Fixed Penalty Notice

The documentation may be a scam.

In the first instance, we advise that you contact HM Courts & Tribunal Services to clarify this, you can use the Court & Tribunal Finder facility via the link in Related Information to do this.

If the letter isn't genuine, report it to Action Fraud (see link in Related Information).

Alternatively, if the letter appears to be from the police referring you to HM Courts & Tribunal Services, then contact your local police to check its authenticity via the link below:

Fixed penalty tickets/notices (FPT /FPN) may be issued for road traffic offences and offer an opportunity to settle an offence without the need to go through the court system. If you pay a fixed penalty ticket, all liability for the offence is discharged and the offence doesn't form part of your criminal record.

As fixed penalty notices do not fall under the definition of a 'relevant matter', they would not be automatically released on a DBS check and as such are not subject to the filtering provisions.

A recipient of a fixed penalty notice has two options, either to pay the ticket or request a court hearing.

There are two types of fixed penalty tickets, endorsable and non-endorsable.

• Endorsable tickets mean that you'll get points on your licence (usually 3) and have to pay a penalty (usually £100) - note that whilst this is the penalty for most tickets, there are some variations where it is more or less, not having insurance is one example - see below.
• A non-endorsable ticket means that you will receive a £50 fine (some are higher) but don't get any points on your licence.
• Certain parking offences are eligible for a £30 non-endorsable ticket (£40 in Greater London).

The type of FPN you receive depends on the offence you have committed. Some offences cannot be dealt with by way of a FPN or the police officer may think that the circumstances are too serious, in either case you may be reported for summons to go to court.

A few examples of endorsable and non-endorsable tickets are:

Endorsable

• speeding
• going through a red light
• driving without due care and attention
• pedestrian crossing offences
• no insurance (£300 and 6 penalty points)
• using a mobile phone whilst driving (£200 and 6 penalty points)

Non-endorsable

• drive a vehicle with no MOT (£100)
• fail to comply with some traffic signs e.g. give-way sign, manually operated stop sign, road markings
• failing to wear a seatbelt
• parking offences

If a speed camera has recorded you speeding, you will receive a notice of intended prosecution/conditional offer. The notice of intended prosecution will be accompanied by a Section 172 notice, which you are required to complete to confirm the identity of the driver. Failure to provide these details may amount to an offence for which a prosecution could be pursued.

There is a statutory duty on all keepers of motor vehicles to be able to provide details of who has been driving the vehicle and keeping records is obviously the easiest way of doing this.

If you suspect your number plates have been cloned, please see Q381.

Each force operates under their own guidance and although they are not obliged to provide the photographic evidence, some will. However, many forces will not release photographic evidence unless the ticket is challenged (plead not guilty). You can request the photographic evidence and in doing so you must provide your Notice number and vehicle registration number, and you must be the person named on the notice of intended prosecution. Your request will then be considered by the relevant force in line with their guidance and policy, and you may then be sent the evidence, which will usually include the photographic evidence and/or a statement.

Any person accused of a criminal offence has the right to defend themselves and in order to do this, evidence of the breach of law must be provided to them. There is no requirement as to exactly what that evidence must be, only that it is evidence of the breach of the law and that you will be able to have a fair hearing.

The usual length of time to return a licence is four weeks. If you have still not received your licence back after this length of time you should contact the Central Ticket/Fixed Penalty Office of the police force involved, they should be able to assist you.

Yes, you can challenge the fixed penalty notice; there will be information on how to do so on the reverse of the ticket. The police cannot offer legal advice on this so we would suggest that you seek legal support from a solicitor, please see link to the Citizens Advice in Related Information.

You will still be required to produce your documents at your chosen police station. You will be sent a summons in due course with a date for the court hearing. For any further enquiries relating to a fixed penalty notice, you will need to contact the Central Ticket Office within your local police force.

A disabled parking badge (otherwise known as a Blue Badge) is intended for on-street parking only. Off-street car parks, such as those provided by shopping centres, hospitals or supermarkets are covered by separate rules.

There are on-street parking concessions available to you as a Blue Badge holder. However, you must always check signs to see what the rules are when parking, as some time limits may apply in certain areas. The link below explains about the use of Blue Badges:

The Blue Badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you wish to challenge the ticket, you need to write to the address on it stating your reasons as to why you think the ticket should be cancelled - if it concerns a disabled parking permit you should include a photocopy of it.

The link below explains how to challenge a parking ticket:

Parking fines and penalty charge notices: challenging a ticket

There are two types of ticket:

• Non-endorsable tickets mostly cost £50 (some are £100 e.g. no MOT) and you won't receive points on your licence.
• Endorsable tickets mostly cost £100 and your driving licence will be endorsed with 3 points but some attract a higher fine and 6 points e.g. driving whilst uninsured (£300 fine and 6 points) or using a mobile phone (£200 fine and 6 points).

Certain offences attract a £30 fine (£40 if committed in Greater London).

If a police officer issued you with a ticket that you have then lost, you should go to your chosen police station. You will need to take your driving documents with you and inform them that you have lost the ticket. It is likely that you will be dealt with by the court and will receive a summons in the post. The summons will either give a date when you need to attend court or give you an opportunity to plead guilty by letter.

If you have received the ticket through the post and have lost it, you will need to contact the Central Ticket/Fixed Penalty Office of the force concerned (see Q727) and provide them with the registration number of the vehicle you were driving at the time.

If the fixed penalty was given by the council, you will need to contact them via the link below:

GOV.UK - find your local council

You can either pay by cheque or by credit/debit card. Payment details are on the back of the ticket.

You can no longer pay cash for fixed penalty notices. Many forces have automated payment lines.

There are two ways of failing to pay a fine on a fixed penalty notice:

1. You reject the fixed penalty notice from the start. You will receive a summons to go to court. You can either then plead guilty by letter or elect to go to court. If found guilty at court you may be given a slightly larger fine and you will have to pay the court costs (approximately £40).
2. If you accept the penalty notice but then fail to pay within 28 days, the fine is registered with the court and is automatically increased by 50%. It is then for the court to enforce the fine and they do have the option of issuing a warrant for your arrest if you fail to respond.

You will need to contact the police force that is dealing with the matter directly and ask to speak to someone in the Fixed Penalty / Central Ticket Office – you can do this by:

• Calling the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
• Using the 'contact us' page on their website – please see Q727 for a list of links to police websites.

If you experience any difficulties with contacting your force via the above methods, we suggest you visit your local police station to see if they can help.

The police will send a notice to the address where the vehicle is registered to.

The police must serve the notice to arrive within 14 days on the registered keeper of the vehicle. If the notice is posted within that time limit, this is presumed to be good service (though this can be challenged).

For more information on Notices of Intended Prosecution, see Q557.

Please also see the Government Website in Related Information.

You should inform your insurance company of any penalty points you have received. The details you provide to them form the basis for your insurance quote and subsequent insurance cover. If any of the details change or are incorrect and you do not inform your insurer, it may affect your cover.

You can produce your documents at any police station in the country, so do not worry if you cannot get to your chosen one. As long as you have your ticket or the producer (HO/RT1) given to you by the police officer it will not be a problem to produce them at another station.

Speed cameras are calibrated once a year as per the set guidelines. The cameras very rarely malfunction and if they do the faults are spotted before any notices of intended prosecution are issued and sent out.

Please also see the link in Related Information for official Government documentation on this topic.

Please see details of how long penalty points / endorsements may stay on your licence below. 

No, the paper counterpart to photocard driving licences is no longer valid and is no longer issued by the DVLA (Note: this does not affect photocard licences issued by the DVLA in Northern Ireland). So, if you have a photocard licence, you only need to surrender the photocard part - see the question on paper counterpart licences for further information.

You still need to attend at the chosen police station to show your driving documents. You should explain the circumstances and see if they are willing to grant an extension. Extensions are discretionary and it will be up to each Force as to whether they are granted or not.

No, the whole amount must be paid in full within 28 days. You can pay by credit or debit card.

If you contact the Central Ticket Office of the force involved via 101 they may be able to offer you some assistance.

Twelve penalty points on your licence within 3 years will mean that you face disqualification under the 'totting up' procedure.

If you have 9 or more penalty points on your licence then you cannot accept any further fixed penalty tickets and must go to court.

For further information see Q368 (how long penalty points last) and Q713 (penalty points for newly qualified drivers)

You need to contact the Camera Unit of the Central Ticket Office (sometimes called Central Process Bureau or similar) of the force concerned to ask for a copy and in most circumstances you will be issued with a copy document.

If it was a conditional offer and you have failed to pay or contact the Camera Unit, you may be issued with a summons to attend court.

If it was a summons you must contact the court in question as a failure to appear at court could lead to a warrant for your arrest being issued.

Do not delay. There are time limits on these processes and they can get more expensive (or even lead to your arrest) if you do nothing.

No, the officer issuing the ticket can stick it to any area of the vehicle. Ordinarily officers will attach the ticket to the windscreen because it is most visible in this position. In most cases they will place the ticket under a windscreen wiper in order that it does not blow away, hence the reason it may seem to be a requirement for it to be placed on the windscreen.

Some local areas may have different methods of notification and will not issue a parking ticket in this manner. For example, Officers/Wardens may take a photograph using a digital time stamp and issue the ticket via post. There are also CCTV systems covering parking places which work on the same principle.