Partner just told me about £1k fine

[Ontherocksthisyear]

So my partners just nonchalantly told me he is in online court tomorrow to dispute a speeding fine. He said he told me about this fine, just before Christmas. I assumed it was about £50 so didn't really enter into much conversation about it. He's said it was £1k, which he failed to add when he originally told me. Maybe my fault for not asking at the time. We share a house together of 3 years and have an 8 month old DS. I am now pretty angry that he has only now just told me about the fine being £1k and that he's in court tomorrow. He's known this court date for 2 weeks apparently. AIBU here? He doesn't see why I am angry and said he wouldn't have been of it was the other way around and I'd of just told him this.

@Ontherocksthisyear I've no idea what you'd need to do for a fine to £1000 but it is in the guidelines, although typically decided by court.

The £100 is a fixed penalty notice. It would not rack up £1000k in less than 6 months, so is he reading what it says the max fine could be versus what his fine is?

You need to have a look at the paperwork to know. But honestly no need to be angry at him - remember the only person who feels your anger is you, yes your anger harms you, so hold him accountable. Tell him he has to pay it and that it is not going to come out of the household fund its out of his fun time money. Ergo he's grounded for a few months.

I hope he's misreading the paperwork.
speedingfinesuk.co.uk/speeding_fines_court_guidelines.htm

I don't know how you organise your finances but it needs to come out of his own personal budget. If you each have thirty quid a month for treats then he's getting none for a long time.
Tell him also if that happens again he has to tell you straight away. If he loses his license you won't drive him about or allow taxis out of the family budget.

If you don't respond to a fixed penalty notice it gets referred to court. The court will find you guilty in your absence (assuming there is evidence) and set the fine according to your income. If you haven't filled in the income forms they will assume it's above very high and fine you at the full capped amount of £1000.

Also they won’t find you guilty of speeding, it will be for failing give driver details, which is more serious. When you get a speeding fine in the post, you also have to confirm who was driving - it could have been anyone. So when you don’t respond, they class it as you not telling them and you get a much higher fine plus six points.

Also DVLA fines are separate and definitely not automatic (as I have found in my case). It’s not a criminal matter to not update your address and it doesn’t go to court. It’s a civil fine.

While OP’s boyfriend has been a dick about it, his story does ring true.

I reported someone for really bad, dangerous driving on the motorway. I had dashcam footage to evidence it.

I received a call a few weeks later from the police, asking me to provide a formal statement, but he also said that they had issued a notice of intended prosecution to the registered keeper, but that he was ignoring them and not notifying them who was driving. They said that if he didn't reply soon, they'd prosecute him for failing to provide the details instead of the original offense.

I assume this is what happened as I never heard back from them again in relation to my statement.

Your DP wasn't in the Thames Valley Police area was he OP??

It could be more tham speeding. If an office is committed, they write to the vehicle owner to ask who was driving, failing to respond to that usually can lead to court and then failing to respond/ declare the driver. Usually 6 points and that could be the £1K fine

Well you're wrong because a court can make an Attachment of Earnings order for the fine amount to be deducted from wages if they've been unable to get him to pay any other way.

It can be that much for a fine. My ex was taken to court for speeding, because he already had a lot of points & the seriousness of it (think he was doing 70+ in a 30 or 40 zone) he almost lost his license but walked away with a 6 month ban and an £800 fine.. so it can be that much. We’d already split and I was a bit disappointed he didn’t lose his license tbh he’d always been reckless. But anyways I’d also be concerned about if there’s a possibility of a ban or losing it who’s he going to expect to ferry him about… you I expect. I wouldn’t put up with it tbh.

The first communication from the Police would be a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) which goes to the registered keeper of the vehicle (within 14 days of the offence). The form invites the keeper to name the driver (if not them) so the appropriate person can be fined (& get the points added)
A reminder is sent out shortly after if there has been no response from the NIP
Third reminder is sent out if again no response to the previous communications.

After this - a court summons where you can expect to get 6 points for "Failing to provide the identity of the driver" a fine. Sometimes that pushes people over the amount of points allowed and they become a "totter" potentially losing their licence,

Sometimes a case can be proven in absence if the defendant doesn't appear in court. I can't remember all the ins and outs as it's a goodly while since I last sat in a traffic court (and I don't do Single Justice Procedure sittings which is where traffic offences are first held)

There is always so much admin to do after moving house and I forgot to notify dvla of our change of address when we last moved. I hadn't noticed the absence of tax reminders either and was shocked when I received notification of a fine for untaxed vehicles. Our cars had been untaxed for over a year so I think we got off pretty lightly with an £80 fine. I guess OPs partner is just embarrassed about the whole thing and didn't want to burden her with it. I don't think it requires any drastic action like rethinking the relationship or anything

This.

No, nor without an attachment of earnings form having been completed.

Usually you pay £90 for a Speed Awareness Course and the subject is closed.

I think you only get up to £1000 if you plead not guilty. But they usually have clear footage which you can ask for. You are given an option to dispute it at the time in case your car got cloned or you weren't driving etc.

If he's going to Court, he's pleading not guilty or it's a lot more complicated than he's letting on...

No doubt if your partner had got angry at you about this you’d have been advised to break up with them if you’d posted on here…

I didn't update my one V5 for 3 or 4 years, tax being DD etc it's easy to forget.

Sounds like he needs to do a statutory declaration. Then the case is wiped clean then relisted in order to give him a chance to respond to the accusation.

That.

he now has the fine and the £1000.

fines unpaid can be taken from wages as it is a gov. Org.

just for info, in Japan, you can get fine, paid out direct from your account for form of incivility registered through their many cameras….

The law changed last year, all speeding fines can now be based on income, so may not of been that major an offence depending on earnings www.aph.com/community/holidays/new-speeding-fines-laws-come-force-april-24-get-information/amp/

Could be the log book for his car doesn’t have the correct address, which is where the letters will have gone to if it’s a speeding camera. Big fine for that.

What happened at court?