🚨 The £100 Mistake: Why You're a Sucker for Accepting That UK Speeding Fine

By The Specialist Defence Team at PointShield Legal

The familiar letter arrives: a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) followed quickly by a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). £100 fine, 3 points. Your first thought? "Just pay it. Get it over with."

If that was your response, you’ve just been played by a system designed to exploit one thing: your fear of paperwork and courts.

You are an everyday person, not a criminal, and the police know that the easiest way to secure a conviction is to make the alternative—fighting it—seem terrifyingly complex and risky.

The Standard Driver’s Mistake: Trading Your Rights for Peace of Mind

Here is the truth: When you blindly accept a Fixed Penalty Notice, you are not saving yourself time; you are admitting guilt based on unexamined evidence and forfeiting your fundamental right to defence.

You complete the Section 172 notice, naming yourself as the driver, and then you pay the fine. Why? Because the Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty is expertly crafted to look like the deal of a lifetime—a low price for an easy exit.

You are paying for the privilege of convicting yourself.

The Truth About the FPN Offer	What You Fail to Realise
It’s a "Conditional Offer."	It is not an unappealable sentence; it is a contract of surrender.
It prevents a court appearance.	This is the police/CPS saving themselves time, not you. They are avoiding the work of preparing a case, gathering full evidence, and attending a hearing.
It’s "only 3 points."	Those points can and will inflate your insurance premium for the next five years, costing you far more than the initial £100 fine.
You avoid a higher court fine.	You miss the chance to challenge crucial evidence that could result in zero fine and zero points.

⏱️ The Unfair Pressure: Deadlines and the Threat of Court

The legal process is structured specifically to rush you into submission:

1. The 14-Day Clock (NIP): The Notice of Intended Prosecution must reach the registered keeper within 14 days. This is the first technical detail that is often ignored.

2. The 28-Day Clock (Section 172): You have 28 days to return the Section 172 form, naming the driver. If you fail to do this, you face the separate, more serious charge of "Failure to Furnish Information," which carries six mandatory penalty points and a fine of up to £1,000. This is the primary pressure point—comply or face a disaster.

3. The 28-Day Clock (FPN): Once you’ve named yourself, the Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty usually gives you another 28 days to pay the fine and accept the points.

This constant wave of letters, deadlines, and the menacing mention of "Magistrates' Court" on every document is highly effective psychology. It’s designed to make the FPN feel like an act of mercy, not a legal tactic.

😡 You Deserved Better Than That

Before you paid, did you do any of the following?

• Did you check if the NIP arrived on time to the correct address?

• Did you investigate the calibration certificate for the speed camera or device used?

• Did you check the original Notice for fundamental errors in location or date that could void the charge?

• Did you request the full evidence, such as the video footage or the officer's log?

The sad truth is that when you accept the FPN, you never get to see the evidence. You have conceded the fight without ever seeing the quality of the opponent's case.

You are entitled to see the evidence. You are entitled to challenge the reliability of the equipment. You are entitled to seek expert advice that can scrutinise procedural failures, technical flaws, or the accuracy of the police operation.

Stop Convicting Yourself. Start Fighting.

Your biggest right—the one the system hopes you forget—is the right to reject the Conditional Offer and ask for your case to be referred to court.

This is not an immediate guilty plea. It is simply the mechanism for triggering your right to disclosure of evidence and preparing a proper defence.

At PointShield Legal, we do not view an FPN as a forgone conclusion. We see it as the police's opening position in a negotiation they desperately want to avoid. You might have been caught speeding, but that does not mean you have to be convicted of speeding.

Don't wait until you're facing a Totting-Up ban because of a fine you should have fought.

Do you have an outstanding Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) or a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)? Don't make the mistake of responding without specialist advice.

Would you like to schedule a free, confidential case review with one of our UK Motoring Offence Solicitors today to discuss challenging your notice?