When will I be summoned to court?
The majority of speeding offences are resolved by fixed penalty and never require a court appearance. You will be summoned if one of the following applies.
Your speed was too excessive for a fixed penalty. Band C offences - typically more than 20mph over the posted limit, though the exact threshold varies by speed limit - are usually referred to court rather than dealt with by FPN.
You rejected the Fixed Penalty Notice and requested a court hearing. You have the right to do this, but if the court finds you guilty the penalty will in most cases be higher than the original fixed penalty.
You failed to respond to the Section 172 notice within 28 days. Failing to identify the driver is a separate criminal offence and will result in a court summons regardless of the original speed involved.
You have accumulated enough points to trigger a mandatory disqualification. Totting up hearings are held at court even where the individual offences were all dealt with by fixed penalty.
What to do when a Notice of Intended Prosecution arrivesWhat the summons contains - and what to do first
The court summons will state the offence you are charged with, the date, time and location it allegedly occurred, and the date and time of your hearing. It will also include details of the court where the hearing will take place.
Read it carefully. Note the hearing date immediately and make sure you can attend. Failing to appear has serious consequences covered later in this page.
The summons will include a section allowing you to enter a guilty plea in writing and return it by post without attending in person - this is sometimes possible for straightforward offences. If you intend to plead not guilty, you will need to attend.
Before you do anything else, consider whether you want legal advice. The decision about how to plead and whether to attend in person is more consequential than many drivers realise, and it is worth at least a brief consultation before committing to a course of action.
Pleading guilty or not guilty
This is the most important decision you will make in the process, and it should be made before the hearing - not on the day.
Pleading guilty
If you accept that you were speeding, an early guilty plea is almost always in your financial interest. Entering a guilty plea at the first available opportunity typically results in a reduction of up to one third on the fine. Waiting until the day of the hearing before pleading guilty reduces or removes that discount entirely.
A guilty plea does not remove your right to put forward mitigating circumstances - your driving history, personal situation, and any relevant context can still be presented to the court and may influence the sentence within the applicable penalty band.
Pleading not guilty
If you believe you were not speeding, or that there is a procedural or evidential problem with the prosecution’s case, you can plead not guilty and request a full hearing. The prosecution must then prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
This is not a decision to take without legal advice. Challenging a speed camera reading on technical grounds requires specific expertise, and the threshold for successfully contesting the evidence is high. If you plead not guilty and the court finds against you, you will lose the early guilty plea discount and the fine will be set accordingly.
What happens on the day
Speeding cases are heard in a magistrates court. The hearing will be before either three lay magistrates - members of the public trained to hear cases - or a district judge sitting alone. There is no jury.
Arrive early. Court lists are busy and cases can be called at any time. If you are late and your case is called, the court may proceed without you.
When your case is called you will be asked to confirm your name and address and enter your plea. If you are pleading guilty the hearing will typically be brief. The prosecution will outline the facts of the offence. You or your solicitor will then have the opportunity to put forward any mitigating circumstances. The court will ask about your income before calculating the fine.
If you are pleading not guilty the hearing will be more involved. Both sides will present their case, evidence will be considered, and witnesses may be called. The magistrates will then reach a verdict.
Dressing neatly and arriving prepared is advisable - attending court is a formal occasion regardless of the nature of the offence.
How the court calculates your fine
Court-imposed fines for speeding are not fixed amounts. They are calculated as a percentage of your net weekly income after tax and National Insurance, based on the penalty band that applies to your offence.
The court will ask you to declare your income. If you do not provide details, the court will make its own estimate - which may not work in your favour.
The fine percentage is a starting point, not the final figure. The court will then consider the specific circumstances of the offence - including aggravating and mitigating factors - before arriving at the final penalty. The maximum fine is £1,000 on most roads and £2,500 on a motorway.
In addition to the fine, you will normally be ordered to pay a victim surcharge and court costs. These add to the total financial penalty and are worth factoring in when assessing the overall cost of a contested hearing.
See the full fine bands, speed thresholds and worked examplesAggravating and mitigating factors
Once the penalty band is established, the court considers factors that push the sentence toward the higher or lower end of the range.
Factors that increase the penalty
- Driving significantly in excess of the speed for the band - a speed close to the Band C threshold will be treated more seriously than one at the lower end of Band B
- Poor road or weather conditions at the time - speeding in heavy rain, fog or on an icy road is treated as more serious than the same speed in ideal conditions
- Driving near a school, in a residential area with pedestrians, or anywhere the risk to others was clearly elevated
- A previous record of speeding offences, particularly recent ones - magistrates will be aware of your driving history
- Driving a large or heavy vehicle - the same speed in an HGV or bus creates greater risk than in a car
Factors that reduce the penalty
- A clean driving licence with no previous convictions or endorsements
- Genuine remorse and an early guilty plea - courts respond well to drivers who take responsibility promptly
- Personal or financial hardship, presented clearly and honestly - this will not remove the penalty but may keep it toward the lower end of the range
- A genuine emergency at the time of the offence - though this is a difficult argument and must be supported by evidence
Totting up hearings - what is different
If you have been summoned because accumulated points have reached the mandatory disqualification threshold, the hearing follows a different structure.
The court is not reconsidering the individual offences - those have already been dealt with. The purpose of the hearing is to confirm the total points on your licence and impose the disqualification, unless you make a successful exceptional hardship argument.
You should receive notice of the total points the court intends to take into account. Check this carefully against your DVLA record before the hearing. Errors in the points total do occur and are worth identifying in advance.
If you intend to argue exceptional hardship, this must be prepared thoroughly before the hearing. The argument must demonstrate that a driving ban would cause serious hardship to others - not just inconvenience to yourself. Written evidence, such as a letter from an employer or medical evidence relating to a dependant, will carry more weight than a verbal statement alone.
How penalty points and disqualification workDo you need a solicitor?
You are not required to have legal representation at a magistrates court hearing. Many drivers represent themselves successfully, particularly for straightforward guilty pleas where the facts are not in dispute.
Legal advice is worth considering in the following situations: your speed was significantly over the limit and a driving ban is a realistic outcome; you intend to plead not guilty and challenge the evidence; you are making an exceptional hardship argument to avoid a totting up ban; or you are a new driver where the consequences of additional points are particularly serious.
A motoring solicitor will understand the sentencing guidelines and how to present mitigating circumstances effectively. Even if you decide not to instruct one for the hearing itself, an initial consultation is relatively low cost and may clarify your options before you commit to a course of action.
What if you do not attend?
Ignoring a court summons is not a viable option.
If you fail to appear the court can proceed in your absence and reach a verdict without you. In practice this usually means a guilty finding, with the fine set without the benefit of any mitigation you might have presented. Further enforcement action may follow if the resulting fine is not paid.
If you have a genuine reason for being unable to attend - serious illness, for example - contact the court as soon as possible before the hearing date and provide evidence. Courts will generally accommodate a rescheduled hearing when there is a legitimate reason, but they require notification in advance, not an explanation after the fact.
Can you appeal the decision?
If you are convicted and disagree with the verdict or consider the sentence disproportionate, you can appeal to the Crown Court. The appeal must be lodged within 21 days of the date of sentence.
A Crown Court appeal is a full rehearing of the case - not a review of whether the magistrates made a procedural error. The Crown Court can confirm, reverse or vary the original decision, including increasing the penalty if it considers the original sentence too lenient.
Appeals against conviction or sentence are relatively uncommon in speeding cases and are rarely straightforward. Legal advice before deciding to appeal is strongly recommended.
Back to the caught speeding guide