Driving advice Speeding tickets in Scotland and NI

Scotland and NI have different speeding rules

Northern Ireland and Scotland both operate very similar systems of speed limit enforcement to the rest of the UK when it comes to speeding offences.

Northern Ireland speeding tickets

As in England and Wales, the Police Service of Northern Ireland can issue Endorsable Fixed Penalty Tickets (EFPN) to speeding drivers at the roadside, or a Conditional Offer of an EFPN through the post for drivers not stopped at the time of the alleged offence or caught on camera.

The penalty for an EFPT is the same as in the rest of the UK – a £60 fine and three penalty points.

A Notice of Intended Prosecution must be served within 14 days, and the registered keeper is legally obliged to name the driver and return the documentation within 21 days of the date of the notice.

If penalty points are imposed upon a driver, they must declare them as a conviction for five years. Like in the rest of the UK, penalty points are active on a driving licence for three years after the offence, and a new license can be applied for after four years.

Northern Irish drivers who commit speeding offences in Britain are able to accept endorsement points on their licence by applying to the DVLA for a GB counterpart licence.

This allows drivers to take advantage of the fixed penalty system rather than going to court. A GB counterpart licence can be obtained free of charge by filling in a D9 form, available at the Post Office.

Speeding tickets issued in Scotland

Scottish proceedings operate in much the same way, except that while in England and Wales officers can issue an FPN to a driver they stop, in Scotland Conditional Offers are always used.

A further difference relates to unpaid fixed penalties. In England and Wales, unpaid fixed penalties (both conditional and penalties issued at the time of an offence) are registered with the offender’s local court for payment.

But in Scotland the original offence is reported to the Procurator Fiscal for prosecution and any non-payment will normally be referred to the district court.