Bastards!

Yep, had my first speeding ticket in March, I was caught doing 36mph in a 30, I was actually in work at the time on my way to a delivery, I didn't even know I was speeding, I was on the phone to my girlfriend at the time (using my hands free kit)

The process is simple, they send a letter addressed to the registered owner of the car tied with the number plate, as a recent example, one of my friends got a speeding ticket, it was her boyfriend driving the car, but they simply take the number plate and send the letter to the registered owner of the car the number plate belongs to. So in her case, she put her boyfriends details onto the form and sen ti away, in the case of a company vehicle, the company by law must provide the details of the person driving the vehicle at the time.

Anyway, in my case, it was me driving my car, so I simply signed the form stating that it was me driving at the time, they then review your licence to see what options are available to you.

I then received a letter better with three options, to pay a £100 fine and have 3 points, appeal against it in court, take the speed awareness course.

I believe it differs between each country in the UK but for Wales, to have the speed awareness course there's 2 conditions to me met, you must not have exceeded 10% +6mph of the speed limit, and you must not have been on a speed awareness course in the last 3 years.

So I went on the speed awareness course, it cost £85 but you get no points on your licence.

Thanks for the reply Im really hoping i get an option for the speed awareness course. This couldn't have come at a worse time, i have literally just finished paying off the car and then the windscreen cracks, so i have to fork out money to repair it, which happened the day after i bought my new macbook pro! It's gonna be a long time before i'm out of the negative figures on my card!

Ouch! I've never had a car on my finance so I don't have that worry, even my latest car that cost me £4000, I paid it all off on the spot, anyway, I don't know where you live, but you should check with your local speed partnership about the requirements for the course. I know that in Wales the organisation is called Go Safe, I was actually called by a speed camera van and it had the go safe logo on the side.

As for the speed awareness course, if you tick the box saying that you are going onto the course, you will be given details on how to apply, you then get a deadline to apply for the course. In my case, I was given the name of the company that were holding the courses and I applied through their website, it is up to the hosts of the course whether or not you pass (at my course there were 2 hosts) There is no exam or anything, but basically you have to be a willing participant, so if you misbehave, disrupt the course or just don't participate in anything, they won't pass you, meaning you end up with a bigger fine and points on your licence. But to be honest, you really do have to go out of your way to not pass the course, so only idiots fail it. The hosts are not members of the police force, however, throughout the course, they are in direct contact with the police, basically sending them the register to see who has attended and at the end of the course, they will tell the police if you have passed.

That's not how it works... You were 7mph over the limit. The 10% rule is there to allow for unreliable speedometers (which tend to be rated for about 5-10% accuracy), not to increase the allowable limit!