Speeding Fines UK: How Much, Points and the 14-Day Rule

If you accept a Fixed Penalty Notice and plead guilty, you pay a £100 fine and get 3 points on your licence, unless you are offered a speed awareness course. If you plead not guilty, you go to court. The court can fine you more and give you more points if it decides you are guilty.

The amount a court fines you depends on the speed limit and how far over it you were driving. It is usually a percentage of your weekly income, up to a maximum of £1,000, or £2,500 if you were driving on a motorway. You could also be disqualified from driving or have your licence suspended.

In England and Wales, magistrates use the Sentencing Council's speeding guideline. It puts your recorded speed into one of three bands, and each band has a fine range set as a percentage of your relevant weekly income.

Where a driver is going grossly over the speed limit, the guideline says the court should consider a ban of more than 56 days. The guideline has been in effect since 24 April 2017.

Within 14 days of your car being caught speeding, you should be sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution and a Section 172 notice. Under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, you cannot be convicted unless you were warned at the time, or a summons (a complaint in Scotland) or a notice of intended prosecution was served within fourteen days of the offence.

The notice can be served on the driver or on the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the offence. A notice sent by registered post or recorded delivery to your last known address counts as served even if it was returned undelivered. The 14 day rule is treated as met unless the contrary is proved.

If the police stop you instead, they can give you a verbal warning, give or send you a Fixed Penalty Notice, or order you to go to court. You pay the fine online in England and Wales, or check the ticket for other ways to pay. If you need help with the cost of a court case, our guide to legal aid explains who can get it.

You may be offered a speed awareness course instead of the fine and points if:

• ✓Yes: the police decide it is appropriate for your offence
• ✓Yes: you have not been on a speed awareness course in the past 3 years

The speeding offence codes, SP10 to SP50, each carry 3 to 6 penalty points. They must stay on your driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence. You can check your penalty points online if your licence was issued in England, Wales or Scotland.

You can be disqualified if you build up 12 or more penalty points within 3 years. When the points reach twelve, the court must disqualify you for at least the minimum period unless it finds grounds to mitigate. The minimum period is six months if no earlier ban is taken into account, one year if one is, and two years if more than one is.

The court cannot take hardship into account, other than exceptional hardship. If you rely on driving for work, our guide to unfair dismissal covers your rights if you lose your job.

If you are still within 2 years of passing your driving test, your licence will be revoked if you build up 6 or more penalty points. Points on a provisional licence that have not expired are carried over to your full licence. If your licence is cancelled, you have to apply and pay for a new provisional licence and pass both the theory and practical tests again.

Scotland. The same fixed penalty and points apply, and GOV.UK has a separate page on how to pay the fine in Scotland. The Sentencing Council guideline above is for England and Wales.

Northern Ireland. The penalties are different. A conditional fixed penalty, for example for being caught speeding on camera, carries a fine of £60 and must be paid within 28 days, and you hand in your licence to the Fixed Penalty Office with your payment. An endorsable fixed penalty from a police officer carries a fine between £60 and £200, paid within 21 days. New drivers in Northern Ireland lose their licence during the two-year probationary period if they build up six or more penalty points.

Our guide to parking tickets covers council and private parking fines, and our motoring guides list the rest.