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I suggest you be more aware of speed limits in future

Cough

I couldn't get an SAC as the last one was 2 years and 50 weeks ago! I seem to get nicked every 3 years, always late at night with nothing else around.

Paragraph 5 is misleading. The fine was not £269 – that is the total with surcharge and costs included. An income of £15,391 is £296pw. Half of that is £148 and a third off that for your guilty plea is £99. So with £40 surcharge and £130 costs, it is absolutely spot on for sentencing at the normal level.

You should note that the guidance only suggests that the court should consider sentencing at the FP level, not that it must. It is entirely a judicial decision whether or not to do so. I have to say that I see no reason why they should not, but courts do not like being dictated to. I would alter the tone slightly.

I would also leave out the final paragraph. Magistrates are perfectly aware of the guidelines and of the mechanism used to arrive at a sentence at the FP equivalent.

The process for this is that your request will first be screened by an administrator. Be prepared to meet some resistance to your request. I notice that, helpfully, you have not used the word “appeal”. This is the usual reason for declining o put a request before the court and usually results in a form to appeal in the Crown Court being supplied. Only the court can decide whether or not to re-open your case. It is a judicial decision to be taken by Magistrates, not an administrative one to be taken by a clerk. You must persevere if you meet that resistance.

There will be a hearing firstly to decide whether or not to re-open your case and, if that goes in your favour, another to consider whether or not to set aside the sentence and impose a different one. he court will combine these two hearings, and you will be asked to attend.

You should note that they are separate decisions. If the court decides against reopening your case, that is the end of the matter. If they do decide to reopen, this does not necessarily mean they will reverse the first court’s decision.

Latest new from the gatekeepers. I received that mail from the HMCTS SJS, this was 10 days ago I didn't see it, but they were basically sending me a form to fill up, apparently this is the correct procedure :

Understanding your options:

https://review-magistrates-court-decision.form.service.justice.gov.uk/

(1) You can tell the court someone has falsely given your details in connection to the offence.
(2) You can make a Legal Statement in court that you didn't know about the case.
(3) You can ask the court to Reopen your case because you didn't get the opportunity to make your case in court originally (you'll need to attend a court hearing).
(4) You can ask the Court to review your fine, because of a low income, benefits or change of financial circumstances. (you may need to attend a court hearing).  This will not change the original outcome of your case including any penalty points.

What to do next:

(1) To complete the form click here - Review a magistrates' court decision form
(2) The attached document, Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN), has information to help you answer the questions on the webform. DO NOT post or email the SJPN this is for your records only.
(3) At the end of the webform, press submit.
(4) Once you submit the form, this is then provided to the relevant court. They will process this in line with their own processing times and can take up to 6 months for you to hear from them. Please do not chase this before the 6 months is up.

An email will be sent to Enforcement and Bailiffs (if involved) to advise them you have made an application for the court to review your case, any further action is at their discretion.

In the meantime, I also just received another answer from South London Magistrates Court, forwarding their conversation :

Good afternoon

Because you pleaded guilty to the matter, your option is to Appeal against the sentence.

Appeals are heard at the Crown Court, and you need to attend.  You should seek independent legal advice before Appealing as should you lose your Appeal, you could incur further costs.

I have attached an Appeal form that must be receive at this email address by 24.04.26 to process within the time limits.

-----------------

From: DIB-London <DIB-London@justice.gov.uk>
Sent: 09 April 2026 16:26

Good afternoon,

That is correct. He can appeal the sentence.

Kind regards

========

From: LondonStatDec-Reopen
Sent: 09 April 2026 11:01

Good morning Legal

This gentleman seeks a reopening, but when you look at his case he pleaded guilty online and his sentence reflects that the online plea was taken into account.

He mentions not receiving a Conditional offer from the police, but this would have been seen by the Legal/Magistrate when sentencing, so is his only option to Appeal now, rather than reopen?

Many thanks

Regards

I'm assuming this is the resistance you were mentionning. I'm ready to send them this answer :

Dear South London MC Administration,

Thank you for your email and for providing the Appeal forms.

I note from the internal correspondence provided that the Legal Adviser suggested an Appeal is the required route because the "online plea was taken into account." Respectfully, this misses the core of my application. While I am aware of the right to appeal to the Crown Court, I wish to first exercise my right to apply for a variation of sentence under Section 142 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.

This application is based on a specific sentencing oversight regarding the "Fixed Penalty Equivalent" guidance in the Sentencing Council’s Explanatory Material. This guidance states that where a Fixed Penalty was unavailable due to administrative reasons, the offender should not be disadvantaged.

As this is a request to rectify a sentencing oversight rather than a challenge to the conviction itself, the Magistrates' Court retains the jurisdiction to hear this in the interests of justice, without the need for a full Crown Court appeal. To clarify, my application is not regarding the 33% guilty plea discount (which was correctly applied), but rather the Court's failure to apply the Fixed Penalty Equivalent as per the guidelines.

Furthermore, the sentencing remarks have taken into account the guilty plea, but provide no indication that my declaration of income was considered. Based on my net annual income of £15,391 (£296 per week), the total penalty of £269 appears disproportionate and significantly exceeds the threshold suggested by the judicial guidelines for this offence.

A guilty plea does not preclude the Court from exercising its power to vary a sentence under Section 142. This section exists specifically to allow a Magistrate to correct such an oversight, avoiding the need to force a defendant into a costly and time-consuming Crown Court Appeal process for an error that can be rectified at the Magistrates' level.

Please could you confirm that this written application will be placed before a Senior Legal Advisor or a Magistrate for a formal decision on whether the Court will exercise its Section 142 powers?

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours faithfully

Hopefully it's cordial enough. But given that they'v sent that online form, is that the way to go or this is another rabbit hole ? Or should I do both ?

Thanks a lot, I'll be following up on that.