Driving advice How to contest a speeding ticket

If you weren't speeding, contest your ticket

If you want to contest a speeding charge, you must return the completed Section 172 notice within 28 days. Even if you're sure you weren't speeding, you must still respond and provide your name as the driver.

Acceptable defences to a speeding charge include:

• You were not speeding. 
• It was not you driving when the speeding happened. 
• There was not proper notice of the speed limit. 
• The speeding vehicle caught on camera has been misidentified.

To contest a speeding charge or fine

1. Complete and return the speeding notice

When you receive the Notice of Intended Prosecution, return the Section 172 notice within 28 days, giving details of the driver at the time of the alleged offence.

2. Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty Notice

If the police are going to send a Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty, they will normally do so shortly after receiving your Section 172 notice.

Conditional offers have no official system for appeals, though some police forces do accept informal letters of appeal, especially if the speeding ticket has been issued in error (such as the vehicle having been reported stolen at the time of the alleged speeding offence). 

If this is possible in your case, write to the address provided explaining why you believe you shouldn't have received the speeding notice (check the individual police force’s guidelines for details).

3. Speeding fine or court appearance

If the police force issuing the speeding notice has no informal appeals option, or if it rejects your speeding ticket appeal, you will have to either pay the speeding fine or formally contest the speeding offence.

To do this, you'll need to request a court hearing by completing the relevant part of the Fixed Penalty Notice, and attach a statement of mitigation. Send this to the address on the 'request court hearing' slip and you will receive a summons. 

But before you do this, you should seek legal advice to understand your chances of winning your speeding case, and the possible consequences of losing it. 

To contest a speeding fine or prosecution in court

1. Get legal advice from a speeding specialist

If you wish to defend the speeding charge in court, you should get advice from a lawyer with experience in motoring law, who will be able to weigh up your defence and tell you the likely consequences of going to court. 

2. Return Plea and Mitigation form

With your summons you'll receive a Plea and Mitigation form, which you must fill out and return before your court appearance. On this form you must give your plea to the speeding charge and other information. You have two plea options:

Guilty with mitigating circumstances 

If you don't face possible disqualification from driving, you'll usually be allowed to plead guilty to a speeding charge by post. 

You'll be able to submit a statement of mitigation, setting out the circumstances that caused you to exceed the speed limit and reasons why you should not be punished severely. 

This information is presented to the court after a guilty plea and may persuade the magistrate to impose a lighter penalty. 

Not guilty 

At the initial speeding charge hearing you'll need to make your not-guilty plea. The court will then ask whether you wish to call any witnesses and relist your case for trial. 

You'll be informed of a new hearing date which you, or your legal representative, must attend to set out your case in defence. 

As the initial hearing is brief, you don't necessarily need to attend, and you may be given the option to move through this process by post.

3. Request evidence of the speeding offence

You can ask for the police and prosecution’s evidence of the speeding offence before the court hearing. This can be useful if you:

• can't remember who was driving
• believe that an error was made identifying your vehicle, or
• believe that mistakes may have been made in recording your speed.

You and your legal team (if you have one) should then examine the evidence and prepare your defence based around your arguments.

4. Speeding offence court appearance

When you get to the actual trial, the prosecution must prove every element of the offence, including that:

• you were the driver of the vehicle at the time and place in question, and
• your speed exceeded the set limit for that part of the road.

Your defence of the speeding charge should therefore also be based around these elements.

5. Guilty or not guilty

If you're found guilty of the speeding offence, there's a risk that the fine and penalty points will be more than those attached to a Fixed Penalty Notice. 

Magistrates have the power to impose a fine of up to £1,000 (£2,500 if you were speeding on the motorway), between three and six penalty points on your driving licence, and a possible disqualification if you were driving more than 30mph over the speed limit. 

Of course, if you're found not guilty you will be declared so, and no further action is necessary.

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