SP30 Fine – Speeding Driving Offences

If you have been issued with a notice of intended prosecution via the post or were given a fixed penalty notice directly by the police relating to an SP30 offence, this means that you have been caught driving over the speed limit on a public road. This usually happens when you either trigger a fixed speeding camera or a mobile police van operating spot checks on driver speed or have been pulled over by the police when driving. 

SP30 – Exceeding Statutory Speed Limit On A Public road

The minimum penalty for an SP30 offence will depend on the speed and severity of the offence. Speeding will usually attract a £100 fine and three penalty points to your licence but this will change depending upon the speed and location travelled when caught.

As a result, you will receive a letter within 14 days of the offence offering one or more of the following outcomes: 

• A conditional offer of a Fixed Penalty
• Penalty points added to your licence and a financial penalty set by a Magistrate
• A driving ban, if you total up 12 or more penalty points within 3 years.
• The option to attend a Speed Awareness course as an alternative to any other outcome

SP30 Fine

SP30 is the code used by police to categorise the driving offence committed when drivers are caught driving at a speed that is over the statutory speed limit on a public road. SP30 will not be used for instances of speeding on the motorway as that is dealt with under an SP50. 

If you are not eligible to attend a speed awareness course, then your driving licence will be endorsed with between 3-6 points on top of a fine. The fine will be a fixed penalty or determined by the Court based on your income. 

If you already have a high number of penalty points on your driving licence and the new points issued for the latest SP30 offence would take you over the maximum 12 points allowed or more, then you face being automatically disqualified from driving for a set period as determined by the Court due to the terms of the ‘totting up ban‘.  

If you have received a fixed penalty notice or court summons through the post as a result of an SP30 offence, contact Caddick Davies for a no-obligation consultation to discuss how we can help you to protect your driving licence and minimise any action taken against you. 

Defence Against The Charges

If your case makes it to court, which will happen if the case of serious offences, if you dispute the speeding offence, or wish to try and reduce the penalties issued to you, then you will need the services of a motor defence solicitor to assist you. 

They will work on your behalf to challenge the allegations against you, minimise penalties issued to you or submit special reasons or apply for exception hardship provision which would persuade the judge not to impose any penalty points. This option would be particularly beneficial if you are facing a totting up ban as could display that a driving ban would have a detrimental effect on your life or livelihood. 

Even if you accept that you were speeding, a specialist speeding offence solicitor can use extensive knowledge of road traffic law and sentencing to minimise the penalty imposed. This might include arguing for a speed awareness course over prosecution, pursuing courts not to disqualify you or minimising penalty points. 

What Are Special Reasons In Speeding Cases? 

One of the defence options available when contesting a speeding offence in Court is to submit a special reasons argument as part of the sentencing procedure. This would take place after a guilty plea is given but acts to offer a valid reason why the offence took place, intending to reduce the sentence imposed. When submitting special reasons to avoid disqualification or penalty points, this must be given in person in Court and can’t be submitted in writing. 

Some examples of special reasons that may be used to argue why the speeding offence was committed include:

• A genuine medical emergency where you had to get yourself or another person to medical help urgently
• Only a very short distance was travelled
• You were misled about the speed limit 
• Your judgement had been affected due to having your drinks spiked or medication tampered with  

You cannot use your circumstances such as losing your job, financial hardship or good character as a special reason but they do not relate to the reason that the offence took place. 

What Is An Exceptional Hardship Claim? 

Motorists facing a driving ban as a result of the ‘totting up’ of penalty points previously issued and those for the most recent speeding offence, can make an application to the courts for them not to be banned from driving on the grounds of ‘exceptional hardship’. 

Genuine examples of exceptional hardship include loss of employment, loss of living accommodation, disability, inability to care for others or risk of redundancy would arise as a direct result of being banned from driving.

A specialist motor defence solicitor will be able to ensure that a robust case is put together to support your claim when the punishment of a totting up ban will lead to extraordinary and real hardship being faced by the driver themselves, or those that they are responsible for caring for. 

Although everybody will suffer some kind of hardship as a result of being banned from driving, every hardship case will be fully investigated by the Courts before being granted so it’s imperative that drivers only begin this claims procedure under the direction of professional legal advice and if a genuine prospect of hardship exists. 

Examples include: 

• Loss of employment due to the inability to drive
• Redundancy or business loss due to inability to drive 
• Severe reduction in income due to inability to drive 
• Loss of accommodation due to inability to drive and make money 
• A disability that requires you to be able to drive
• Inability to care for a dependant family member or close contact such as taking children to school or taking relatives to medical appointments for example.   

Caddick Davies Can Help 

Caddick Davies Solicitors offer speeding offence representation for motorists who find themselves facing an SP30 charge. Our expert team can help you to keep driving endorsements to a minimum and have defended many cases in motoring courts throughout England and Wales successfully. By working to establish the facts of your case, we build a strong defence or appeals case and provide a defence counsel that can be relied on in Court in order to give you the best chance of a positive outcome. 

Keeping penalty points to a minimum or reducing the number of penalty points already on your licence is crucial to protecting your ability to drive legally. If being able to drive is important to your work, livelihood, wellbeing and family, then instructing the services of a motoring defence solicitor when faced with motor offences gives you the best chance of successfully challenging speeding offences and minimising the points or fines that you face as a result of receiving an SP30 penalty notice. 

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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today

Send us a message or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice

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As a highly experienced team of specialist motor defence lawyers, we offer advice and representation for individuals facing speeding offences across the UK.

We will assess each case presented to us individually and without judgement to identify any factual or technical defence that can be used to overturn the charge in Court or minimise the fines and/or penalty points that you are facing.

As specialist speeding solicitors, we can use our unrivalled knowledge of police enforcement technology from GATSO cameras to in-car police VASCAR systems, the road traffic act and sentencing options to provide the best possible representation to drivers who wish to challenge any allegation of speeding made against them 

Speeding fine defence options include: 

• Appeals on technical grounds such as missing information or incorrect details issued on the Notice of Intended Prosecution, absence of, or obscured road signs in the area you were caught speeding
• Proving that you weren’t the person driving or that you weren’t speeding
• Submitting arguments of special circumstances that led to you speeding in the first place
• Submitting claims of exceptional hardship to try and remove the prospect of a driving ban if this is on the cards 

The specialist team of lawyers at Caddick Davies will:

• review all the evidence of your case to establish the facts
• build a strong defence by gathering evidence and presenting your case
• provide a defence counsel that you can rely on in court
• provide legal advice and consultation throughout your case

Our leading team of motoring offence solicitors at Caddick Davies have a reputation for success when it comes to defending motorists charged with driving offences. We work with clients all over the UK and are rated in the top 20 law firms on TrustPilot.

Read on to understand more about SP30 including the penalties involved, how long points stay on your licence, how your insurance premium will be affected, and how a solicitor can help. 

FAQ’s

What Outcome Will I Get? 

Whether you face points and a fixed penalty, points and a penalty set by a magistrate, or a driver awareness course will depend on your driving record to date, the severity of the speeding offence committed, and any aggravating factors that were taken into consideration surrounding the nature and location of the offence. 

Ultimately, whether or not you’re prosecuted is down to the police officer’s discretion but they will usually only choose this option if they consider you to be a ‘serious offender’ and have either severely exceeded the speed limit or have repeatedly committed the offence.

For example, if you have never committed a driving offence before and have exceeded the speed limit within a threshold of 10 miles an hour, then you are likely to be issued with a fixed penalty fine of £100 and three points on your licence, or you could be offered a speed awareness course.

If however you already have active endorsements on your driving licence from previous driving offences and/or have exceeded the statutory speed limit by a significant amount, then you are more likely to face imprisonment, a driving ban, or much higher fines that are set by a judge and will be based on your net income. 

Aggravating factors that will be considered include but are not limited to; the weather conditions, whether you had passengers in the car if you were towing a trailer or caravan, the standard of your driving whilst speeding, or if you were near a school or high pedestrian traffic area at the time of the offence.

If any of these aggravating factors are involved in your SP30 offence then Caddick Davies can address these in your defence to prevent them from adding any unnecessary severity to the outcome of your case.

How Many Penalty Points Can Be Issued? 

Between 3-6 penalty points can be issued when drivers commit an SP30 offence. The maximum penalty for speeding offences is imprisonment for 6 months plus the licence endorsement and a fine based on your income. 

When it comes to penalty points, you should also be aware that: 

• If you have accepted penalty points following an SP30 driving offence then these endorsements will stay on your driving record for four years from the date of the offence. 
• You can be disqualified from driving if you total up 12 or more penalty points within 3 years. This is known as a totting up ban and is an automatic driving ban issued when these criteria are met 
• If you are a ‘new driver’ which apply to anybody who has passed their test within two years, then you will still receive a minimum of 3 penalty points on your licence but if you have 6 or more within the initial two year period of passing your driving test, then your driving licence will be revoked and you will need to retake your test. 
• The table below shows the common speeding offences and how many penalty points you could potentially get for them. 

If you are concerned that your SP30 offence will result in a driving ban either directly or via a totting up ban then you should talk to the team at Caddick Davies who will be able to advise on the options available to you. 

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Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today

Send us a message or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice

_______________________________________________________________________

• About
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Neil Davies

Motoring Lawyer at Caddick Davies Solicitors

Caddick Davies is recognised as one of England and Wales’ leading motoring law firms, offering specialist Speeding Solicitors, Drink Driving Solicitors & Dangerous Driving Solicitors.We provide advice and representation on all motoring offences including speeding, the avoidance of disqualification on penalty points or “totting up” (exceptional hardship), driving without due care and attention (careless driving), dangerous driving, drink driving, as well as a range of services related to medical revocation of a driving licence.

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