NIP - can i plead hardship to reduce fine?

[Jake the snake]

Hi

Got my first speeding ticket today, 47 in a 30. stupid yes.

Got pulled and spoke to police, was honest, polite, explained my situation, apologised etc. I was guilty, fair enough.

I havent taken any action yet, so could pay the fine or contest it.

I can accept the 3 points, but I'm not really in a position to spare £60 out of my tight budget.

Ive read a few bits - can I reduce my monetary fine

1. by speaking with the fines officer at court and ask for instalment payment
2. going to court and asking for leniency
3. Provide a statement of means to show i cant afford fine

- if i do contest on the basis of hardship are they likely to charge me court costs.

Are any of the options legitimate methods of response? Any advice would be appreciated - basically i can pay a lower amount (say £20), it was my first offence and generally im a good citizen...

[jed52]

Jake, usually the cheapest option is to to accept the fine and the 3 points. I dont know of anybody that has gone to court to plead poverty and won! I think you'll probably have to bite the bullet and take it!
And yes, I'm going to say it.........slow down in future.
I think the court takes speeding in a built up area (i.e.town) more seriously than, say a rural location(i.e.open road).
I'm sorry mate, but I dont have any sympathy at all for you.
So, I dont think a judge would either.
The idea of a fine is to impose some sort of punishment on the guilty party. So trying to make it as easy as possible for you to pay it would'nt really be a punishment, would it?
Sorry for the rant.

[david1605red]

If you go to court and plead guilty, rather than accept the fixed penalty, the minimum fine will be £60, plus £35 prosecution costs, plus £15 victim surcharge.

You can, if you complete a statement of means, get them to agree to accept weekly instalments, but you'll end up paying a lot more than the original fixed penalty.

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by Jake the snake

Hi

Got my first speeding ticket today, 47 in a 30. stupid yes.

Got pulled and spoke to police, was honest, polite, explained my situation, apologised etc. I was guilty, fair enough.

I havent taken any action yet, so could pay the fine or contest it.

Firstly, despite your thread title, you obviously do not have a NIP. You have a FPN.

I can accept the 3 points, but I'm not really in a position to spare £60 out of my tight budget.

You don't have a choice but to accept the points. There is realistically no way that a court will not find you guilty if you were pulled at the time.

Ive read a few bits - can I reduce my monetary fine

1. by speaking with the fines officer at court and ask for instalment payment
2. going to court and asking for leniency
3. Provide a statement of means to show i cant afford fine

- if i do contest on the basis of hardship are they likely to charge me court costs.

Option 1 is not applicable, this is a fixed penalty notice - you either accept it or elect to attend court. If you do the latter, the FPN will be voided and a summons issued instead
Option 2, You can, but you are unlikely to get any for driving more than 50% over the prevailing limit. The Court could increase the points also.
Option 3 is only available if you go to Court

Any advice would be appreciated - basically i can pay a lower amount (say £20), it was my first offence and generally im a good citizen...

Won't have any bearing, Generally, the Court will believe that if you can afford to run a car, you can afford the £60 fine. Also, take note of the previous post about the increase in the amount that you will have to pay. I would doubt that a Court would do anything other than increase the fine also.

[Jake the snake]

Ok thanks for all the comments.

Was company car I was borrowing by the way as I cant afford to run my own car.

Jed - yes, point taken i will be slowing down.
David /pat - thanks for answering specific questions. (sorry about mixing up NIP and FPN)