Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all,

Got some questions regarding a live speeding fine I'm dealing with. First, the timeline :

07/09/2025, the camera flashes my car at 35MPH instead of 30MPH, thinking Bath road was at 40MPH
11/09/2025, they send the NIP
10/10/2025, I'v been trying to respond to the NIP online, but their website kept on returning an error for days "Please accept our apologies that the Portal is not currently available, work is ongoing to restore this at the earliest opportunity"
11/10/2025, I then respond by post and are forced to pay for a stamp (bouh), and explain also why I'm 1 day late to send the NIP's response
14/01/2026, After not hearing anything for months, I receive an email from the MET Police :

Dear Driver / Rider

We are in receipt of your admission and you have provided us with your email address.

The MET is implementing a new business process where communications and documentation are sent digitally rather than via Royal Mail.

If you wish to opt out of digital service please respond to this email within 48 hours.

If no response is received  further communications and documentation may be sent to you digitally via this email address you previously supplied.

Please therefore ensure that you regularly check your spam folder for any communications from us.

Thank you

15/01/2026, I respond that I wish to continue by post, hoping that'll make me win some time
16/01/2026, they confirm that my choice has been recorded
26/02/2026 (today), I receive the Single Justice Procedure Notice (8 days short from the 6 months period!). However the notice seems to be dated from 11/02/2026, so it has been recorded within 5 months and a week. Based on that, they are then on time. not sure why I received it so late… But that means I only have a few days left to respond.

Here's the SJPN just for the record : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cwvo1viqjksfewi5khxxn/SJP-blank-printed.pdf?rlkey=p89kzrzqgtanfyzejvf9knd7l&dl=0
Here's the image evidence : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pk840exy81289fmhxh1o7/Capture-d-cran-2026-02-25-235829.png?rlkey=jxc6eae5a6x7vtbvaa364s4gi&dl=0



Everything seems to be correct in the SJPN, except for a small twist, so here are my questions :

1. In the witness statement, one particular paragraph caught my attention :

A Conditional offer of Fixed Penalty was sent to *** on 23/10/2025.

The driver/ rider failed to satisfy the requirements of the Fixed Penalty, by not paying the Fixed Penalty and failing to provide their licence details for electronic endorsement.

The driver/ rider did not satisfy the requirements of the Fixed Penalty offer within the specified timeframe. As a result, the offer of a Fixed Penalty has been withdrawn.

The matter was therefore referred to the Prosecution Team for a Single Justice Notice to be issued ..

No, a Conditional offer or Fixed Penalty was not sent. In fact, the (accidental I suppose) acknowledgement of receipt from the met police of my NIP response by mail on the 14/01/2026, means that they just started looking up at my case, back in January. I reckon they were doing some tweakings in their system, looking to digitalize it, and they got caught in some kind of backlog or something.

Is that a ground for (a successful) appeal ? My current research shows that I could only plead guilty and ask for the Conditional Offer to be applied, following a failure of the administration to send it.

2. I was traveling near that bus. We are nearly at the same level, but I'm still a bit behind. I assume that would not be a successful reason for appeal (that the camera could have caught the bus given how close we were) ?

3. I looked up the signs on the road, unfortunately for me, there are 2 signs on the left hand sign, which I would have missed traveling near that bus, however there is another one on the right hand sign, about 30 seconds before, very small and unlit, but nevertheless, it's there. Besides, a road without any specified speed limit and with lamp posts, is meant to be 30MPH by default. So I'm assuming a judge would not take that, but I still ask... would the lack of good visible sign and considering the bus on the left blocking the view, be a good ground for appeal or is that a blunder ?

4. I am a private hire driver. This will bring me up to 9 points. I should not loose my PHV licence (I might, but I think they are more relaxed now with all those 20MPH roads nowadays. Fingers crossed), however if it does (or even if it doesn't, one more strike and I'm out) this will put me in a very tough spot, with a risk of loosing my work.

Could I claim for the points not to be applied ? Or would that only be in case of a 4th and final fine ?

Thank you all for taking the time of looking up at my case.

Thank you for the reply

How can you know whether a COFP was sent?

If on January the MET Police just about confirm that they have received my NIP's response, it means they would not have started to deal with it before, so the probabilities that they sent anything in October (or could have been lost in administrative mayhem due to them updating their system), is high.

What you have shown us are not the evidential photos, but presumably cropped versions of the evidential photos - with the data block removed for some unspecified reason.

The pictures are not cropped, that's all I have from the SJPN on page 20. I did forget to include the data block for some reason, here's the full page : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nslfswzt5zrew9kxr8ooc/SJP-blank-printed_Page_20.jpg?rlkey=oxqg63r467x5oq0csvd7vn7os&dl=0

unless you can show that such a ban would cause exceptional hardship

Understood, so exceptional hardship could only be pleaded in case it would get to 12 points. I'll keep that for the next one if and when it comes. I'm assuming that even with 9 points, I could still get a speed awareness course if the last one was more than 3 years ago, so that could still give me one more if I'm still at 9 points when and if it happens.

cunningly hidden at the top of this forum.

I did find it and had a read, was useful to respond for other questions I had.

In Conclusion : The best (and only) course of action is to plead guilty, and ask for the the judge to sentence the equivalent of the conditional offer. I have written the response (no need to read it I think it's pretty straightforward), just putting this down here for the sake of any future visitor seeking help on a similar matter :

I am pleading guilty to the offence of speeding (35mph in a 30mph zone). I accept full responsibility for the error. However, I respectfully request that the Court considers sentencing me in line with the 'Fixed Penalty Equivalent' principle (specifically £100 and 3 penalty points), as per the Sentencing Council’s guidelines for cases where a Conditional Offer was not received due to administrative reasons.

I would like the Court to consider the following timeline, which demonstrates that I have acted in good faith but was denied the opportunity to resolve this without court proceedings:

1. NIP Response: I attempted to respond to the NIP online up until 10/10/2025, but the Metropolitan Police portal was non-functional (recorded by a system error message). Consequently, I responded by post on the same day, including a letter explaining the technical delay.

2. Missing Conditional Offer: The witness statement claims a Conditional Offer was sent on 23/10/2025. I state categorically that no such offer was received at my address, which is the correct address of service.

3. Contradictory Correspondence: On 14/01/2026, I received an email from the Metropolitan Police (Laura Drury) stating they were in 'receipt of my admission' (which is 3 months after it was sent), and that they were only then 'implementing a new business process' for digital documentation and asking me to opt-in or out of digital service.

4. Action Taken: I responded immediately on 15/01/2026, requesting to continue via post. The police confirmed receipt of this preference on 16/01/2026.

It is my submission that if the police were just dealing with my NIP's response and still establishing my communication preferences in mid-January 2026, it is highly likely that the Conditional Offer supposedly sent in October 2025 was never successfully served or was caught in an administrative backlog.

As a professional Private Hire (PHV) driver, I am acutely aware of the importance of maintaining a clean driving record for my livelihood. This conviction will bring my total to 9 penalty points. Given the high stakes involved for my career, I would have had every incentive to accept and pay a £100 Conditional Offer immediately to resolve the matter. I would never have ignored such an offer and allowed it to escalate to court proceedings voluntarily.

In light of the above, and given that my speed (35mph) falls well within the threshold for a Fixed Penalty, I request that the fine be limited to £100 and that no victim surcharge or court costs be awarded, or that they be kept to a minimum, to reflect the position I would have been in had the offer reached me.

Exhibit A: Screenshot of the Met Police website error.
Exhibit B: Photo of the stamp/proof of postage.
Exhibit C: The email from Laura Drury.

Will send that on tuesday the 3rd, if no issue with the website!