Free Traffic Legal Advice

Step by step this is what happened:

I moved house at the end of December 2024. In September 2025, I was flashed by a speed camera. At the time, I was unaware that I also needed to update the address on my V5C logbook. When I changed the address on my driving licence, I believed that this would automatically update where any notices or tickets would be sent. Unfortunately, this was my mistake.

After moving, we continued to regularly check the mailbox at our previous address in case any letters arrived there. This was because we are a large family and some services may not have had our updated address. We also have friends who live in the area, so we were able to check the mailbox frequently.

During the period when we were regularly checking the mailbox, we did not see the Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) or the letter offering the Speed Awareness Course (SAC). We have an address that is very similar to ours and we have a very long history of letters and parcels being sent to that wrong address(this can be evidenced on multiple occasions)

It was only on 16 January that I received a letter at my new address stating that I must either accept a fixed penalty of 3 points and a £100 fine, or take the matter to court. I contacted the police to explain the situation, and the lady I spoke with advised that because a Speed Awareness Course had previously been offered but not accepted, I was no longer eligible for it. She mentioned that they had checked the police systems to get our new address.

The court response period has now passed, and I have since received a court summons letter, despite trying to explain the situation and actively being in contact with the police.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice about a speeding situation and whether there’s any chance of resolving it.

I was caught doing 24mph in a 20mph zone and was apparently offered a Speed Awareness Course. However, I never saw the letter offering the course until after the deadline had already passed.

The issue is that it was sent to my old address. I’m a new driver and I made the mistake of assuming that when I updated the address on my driving licence, that would also update where things related to my vehicle (like tickets) are sent. I’ve since learned that the vehicle logbook (V5C) with the DVLA needs to be updated separately, which I hadn’t done at the time. That was my mistake.

On top of that, we have an ongoing issue with post being delivered to the wrong address in our area. We actually go to the old house roughly every 3 days to check in case anything important has been delivered there. During the time the course letter was sent, nothing had arrived there when we checked.

We also have a long history of written evidence and complaints about parcels and letters being delivered to the wrong house on our old address, so this has been a recurring problem.

If I had seen the letter in time, I would have taken the Speed Awareness Course immediately. Instead, I missed the opportunity because I didn’t know about it.

Given that the address on the V5C hadn’t been updated at the time (my mistake), but there is also a history of postal delivery issues, is there any realistic chance of asking for the course to be reinstated or challenging this? Or is it likely the court would simply say it was my responsibility to update the V5C?

Any advice would be really appreciated.