Red light, phone, no insurance: how to contest a police fixed penalty notice

What is a police fixed penalty notice?

A police ticket for a motoring offence arrives in one of three ways. A camera catches it, and the registered keeper is sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution with a request for the driver's details, as for a speeding ticket. An officer stops you and gives you a fixed penalty notice there and then, or reports you and the force's ticket office writes later. Or the force sends a conditional offer of a fixed penalty by post once the driver has been named.

A fixed penalty is the chance to settle the matter without a court: you pay the penalty, and for an endorsable offence your licence takes the points. Section 52 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 says the notice must give reasonable information about the alleged offence, the amount, and the period during which no proceedings can be brought, which is 21 days from the date of the notice or longer if the notice says so. Section 75 says a conditional offer runs for 28 days from issue, or longer if it says so.

There is no independent adjudicator for any of this. The force decides whether to withdraw a notice. If it does not, and you do not accept the fixed penalty, a court decides.

What are the two ways it can go?

First, written representations. You can write to the force's ticket office and ask it to review the notice and take no further action, setting out why. Forces do withdraw notices, most often where the vehicle or its details are wrong, where the first camera notice was late, or where the driver produces proof, such as a certificate of insurance. The force decides at its discretion and can simply say no.

Second, a court hearing. Section 55 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 says that for a fixed penalty notice given at the roadside, no proceedings can be brought while the suspended enforcement period runs, and that you can ask to be tried for the offence by giving notice in the way the ticket says, before that period ends. If you neither pay nor ask for a hearing in time, the penalty plus half as much again can be registered against you as a fine. A conditional offer that is not accepted in its period goes the same way: the force can start proceedings.

The two do not wait for each other. Writing to the force does not stop the clock on the ticket. If you want a court to decide, the notice says how to ask and by when, and you have to do that in time whatever letters are in the post. ByeFine does no court work.

What about the request for the driver's details?

A camera ticket for a red light carries the same request for the driver's details as a speeding ticket, under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, with its own 28 day limit and its own offence for not answering. Written representations do not answer it and do not pause it. Answer it, by the date printed, whatever else you do. ByeFine never answers it for you and does not advise on what to put in it.

Which grounds work?

Each one applies only if it is true for you. Representations say only what you know to be true.

• The details are wrong. The registration, the date, the time, the place or the offence stated cannot be right, or the notice contradicts itself.
• It was not your vehicle, or not you. Cloned plates, a stolen vehicle, or a mistaken identity at the roadside. Report cloning or theft to the police and keep the crime reference.
• A red light: the first camera notice reached the registered keeper more than 14 days after the alleged offence, the same rule as for a speeding ticket. The law also says a record from a traffic light camera is admissible only if the device is of a type approved by the Secretary of State, so ask for the two photographs or the video, the record of how long the light had been red, and the position of the stop line.
• No insurance: the vehicle was insured at the time. Send the force the certificate or the policy number. Forces check the insurance database and often withdraw a notice on proof.
• A phone: the device was not held or used, or one of the exceptions the law gives applied. GOV.UK says it is illegal to hold and use a phone, sat nav, tablet or any device that can send or receive data while driving, and that the law still applies when you are stopped at traffic lights, queuing in traffic or supervising a learner. The exceptions it gives are a call to 999 or 112 in an emergency when it is unsafe or impractical to stop, being safely parked, making a contactless payment in a vehicle that is not moving, and using the device to park the vehicle remotely.
• A seat belt: a medical exemption certificate, or one of the exemptions in the regulations. Say which, and send a copy of the certificate.

Not sure which of these fit your notice? Check it free. You see the verdict and the deadline before you pay.

What does not work?

• Writing to the force and waiting. The ticket's own period runs on. If you want a court to decide, ask in time in the way the ticket says.
• Arguing that an officer's account is wrong without anything to back it up. Representations rarely move a force off its officer's own evidence. That argument is for a court.
• Saying someone else always drives the car without naming them, on a camera ticket. The request for the driver's details still has to be answered.
• An emergency or a good reason. A court can take that into account when it decides the penalty, and in some cases treat it as a special reason not to endorse. That is a decision for a court, and it means accepting that you were driving.

What should I put in my representations?

• The notice reference, the registration, the date, time and place on the notice, and your name and address.
• Which ground applies, in plain words, and only what you know to be true.
• A request for the force's evidence: the officer's notes and any body worn or in car video, or for a camera the photographs, the record and the device's type approval.
• Copies of anything that backs you up: the insurance certificate, the crime reference, a medical exemption certificate, photographs. Keep the originals.
• On a camera ticket, keep the representations separate from the reply to the request for the driver's details. Make that reply on the form the notice gives, by its date.

What does ByeFine do?

ByeFine reads the notice and tells you free how strong representations look. If you go ahead, it writes the representations from the notice and what you tell it, in your name, asking the force to withdraw the notice and take no further action, and putting the force to proof. You then copy the letter from your case page and send it yourself, by email, by post or through the force's own form for correspondence. ByeFine does not send it and does not act for you with the police, so its promise to refund an appeal it cannot file does not apply to this letter.

ByeFine never answers the request for the driver's details for you, never says who was driving, never asks a court for anything, and does not act in court. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. It cannot promise a result. A speeding ticket has its own guide.