Speed fine, EU foreign licence. Best option?

Some help needed here.

A week ago I was caughtspeeding by a speed camera, doing 37 mph in a 30 mph road, in central Cambridge.

The bike is registered and insured, I live in the UK, so no chances to get away with this, I guess (which is fine). Now I’ve been offered the usual options here, of either:

  1. A speed awareness course

b) A fixed penalty (and 3 points).

Reading on this I’ve learnt that since 2009 the Police creates a ghost licence where they put your 3 penalty points (if you go for b).

My concerns are mainly on my options to get out of this situation as clean as possible. So these are my questions:

Paying the fine /Course: is it a better option to get the 3 points penalty? If they’re not taking your EU licence away (I assume they can’t!) and you’re not to be caught very frequently, the points would go away in 3 years, wouldn’t it?What happens if you return the fine saying I wasn’t the driver? I’ve got friends abroad that might be willing to take the blame, since they’re not driving in the UK and will never be.In all this legal process, Do you have to show/send your actual licence at any time? Let’s say you accept the course by letter: they can’t check your licence online 'cause it’s abroad. Do you have to send the licence at some point to someone? I think that can’t be legal, and at the same time they don’t have any details on you (type of licence, when you got it, etc…).
Any chances of this not being prosecuted at all? Thanks in advance, Alvaro

DEF take the fine and course, its easy and the points will cost you more on insurance than the fine.

ALWAYS avoid points.

I think you take either the course, or the fine (not both).

I know the ‘someone else was driving it’ (either living in the UK or abroad) option doesnt sound great, but I still don’t get how they deal with these cases.

Thanks, A.

The course is £100 and no points. Fine is £60 and points. Your choice.

If you say you weren’t riding I hope you know someone outside the EU to make life easier for yourself.

If you did the speed take the course.

GT - I have sent a PM

but if you insure abroad nobody cares about points

Thanks all for the advice, which I’ll follow. Some questions remain, though:

  1. If you dispute your fine saying:
    'My vehicle was driven by Peter Smith, resident in Brazil (or even Pedro Pérez, resident in Spain), plus a real driving licence number.

How does Police know that you’re telling the truth? Surely they’d have to either: 1) Try to contact that person (unlikely) 2) Cancel the speed fine, otherwise you’d be liable no matter what (doesn’t seem very fair, does it?).

  1. For those who have attended the speed awareness course, do you know whether Police requires you to show any driving licence at all or not? Could this be different for UK licences and for EU licences?

Thanks, A.

I know exactly what happens here because the same thing happened to me. I think it is highly unlikey you can get off scott free so…

  1. You have to declare who was driving / riding at the time

  2. You may be offered the speed awareness course (seems most likely given it was only a minor infringement) or points and a fine.

  3. In either case you have to provide them with your driving license number. They use this to create a profile for you on their system and record points against it and the fact that you have attended a speed awareness course. Think of it like a “Ghost license.” If you get more than 12 points on this record they can withdraw your right to drive in the UK.

Now this is important:

If you choose to do the speed awareness coures it’s your responsibility to follow up if they don’t contact you. I sent off my stuff and didn’t hear anything so I had to phone up. The same thing happend to a friend of mine but she didn’t realise so missed the deadline and had to pay the full fine £120 and take the points, I think she even got a court summons too. If you do not hear from them make sure you follow up even if you have to call 50 times.

If you opt for the speed awareness course you don’t get points or a fine although the cost of the course is more than the fine you would have had to pay. The course is actually pretty informative, it’s what you make of it really. I had fun with my fellow criminals but some of the people at the back of the class saw it as an endurance test. You cannot do the course again within 3 years for the same type of infringement, so if you get busted for the same thing again you’ll have to take the points.

With respect to a foreign license. I’ve a Dutch one and there was no problem with mine.

Finally one of the first questions they ask the group is, “Why are you here?” The correct answer is “Because I don’t want 3 points.”

Just do the course.

If you pretend someone else was riding the bike there’s a good chance you’ll end up in prison and have to pay a huge fine and court costs, and end up with double the amount of points, a non-brainer really.

Does nobody else feel it is totally wrong to speed?

All the responses indicate otherwise.:angry:

If you pretend someone else was riding, you’re a dick… sorry but I hate the whole trying to get out of things. You sped, got caught… now pay the fine and move along! You’re offered a course rather than points so take that and you might learn something. As much as I dislike the police force, wasting their time trying to follow up on a bogus lead ain’t really a decent thing to do either…

Jet is right…

30 = 30, 40 = 40, 50 = 50ish, 60 = make progress, 100+ = loose your licence…simples. :wink:

Thanks Joby, and all the rest too, your answer has been very useful and with real level of detail.

Regarding the question about ‘do you feel speeding is wrong’, my answer is a clear and loud: NO. I think it’s a bit hypocritical to accept speed limits are sacred (irrespective of conditions), when practically all of us break these limits every day (simply know better when to push the throttle and when not, or where cameras are located).
Yesterday I checked my speed during my way back home. It’s 5 miles, no hurry because I was under no pressure at that moment. At least 3 times I was doing 35-40 mph, in 30 mph areas. Of course there were no speed cameras there.

Now, was I driving dangerously, putting my life or others into risk? No, I wasn’t. Is it reasonable to keep limits so low that 95% or drivers break them every single day? No, it’s not. Should limits be the same for a 1 Tonne vehicle than for a 150 kg bike? I don’t think so, it’s easier, but not fair. It’s a fact that many bicycles in Cambridge do >30 mph (sure they don’t get caught!).

My view is that speed cameras are there basically so that drivers don’t do 80 mph in 30 mph areas (and they do that well). Problem is that, all people who drive at reasonable speeds (say, not my 37 mph, but even up to 50 mph depending where and when), also get caught in ‘the system’.

It’s a collateral damage (although very harmful to me).

The best way to avoid parking tickets to to go to wheelie school :smiley: :laugh:

Unfortunatly it doesn’t matter whether or not you think speed limits are right or wrong, the fact is speed limits are laws, you break 'em you get done. Just because everybody else does it every day doesn’t make it right.

oh and why does this thread keep trying to run a “Microsoft Office 2010 component” everytime I come in here?

I would ask Microsoft that.

either that or don’t come in here anymore. This is the only thread it does it in, odd :crazy:

I suspect that MS Office has control over some file extension or other which this thread uses for some reason. MS has taken control, but not installed whatever it needs to make use of that control. My advice is to Uninstall MS Office and use one of the better free alternatives.

Sorry could not find any newer data…

The Department of Transport’s Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain report for 2004 provides perhaps the most insightful look into why motorbikes pose such a threat to the safety of pedestrians. The following data makes for chilling reading:

36% of motorcycles exceeded the speed limit on built-up roads, with 19% travelling faster than 45 mph. This compares with 27% of cars which exceeded the speed limit and 10% which travelled faster than 45 mph;

48% of motorcycles exceeded the speed limit at 30 mph sites and 24% travelled at more than 35 mph. This compares with 53% of cars which exceeded the speed limit at 30 mph sites and 22% which travelled faster than 35 mph.

The Department of Transport report that a significant number of road accidents involving motorcycles occur as a result of riders losing control round bends or undertaking unsafe overtaking manoeuvres. Both of these scenarios can be seen as posing risk to pedestrians as they generally involve motorbikes travelling at high speeds in situations where they are unlikely to be sighted by pedestrians until very late.