Challenging speeding fine over incorrect evidence

Hello! I am Gemma, a legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. I would be very happy to help you with this.

Yes, you can absolutely challenge a speeding fine if you believe the camera evidence is incorrect. However, you need to handle the paperwork carefully so you do not accidentally commit a separate legal offence in the process.

The legal position:

When a speed camera records a suspected offence, the police send a Notice of Intended Prosecution and a Section 172 notice to the vehicle's registered keeper. The Section 172 notice places a strict legal duty on you to tell the police who was driving the vehicle at that time and date.

You must respond to this notice within 28 days, even if the camera is wrong. If you ignore it because you know you were not speeding or because your car was nowhere near the camera, you will likely be prosecuted for failing to provide driver details. This carries a penalty of six points on your driving licence and a hefty fine, which is often worse than the speeding penalty itself.

A camera might be wrong for a few reasons. Your number plate might have been cloned by another driver, the camera may have misread a letter or number on a different car, or you might believe the speed measurement equipment itself was faulty.

Practical next steps:

1. Ask for the photographic evidence. Before formally challenging anything, you can write to or email the police force that issued the notice and ask for photos to help you identify the driver. Most police forces will happily provide this. This is often the quickest way to resolve things if the photo clearly shows a completely different make or model of car, proving your plates were cloned or misread.

2. Reply to the information request. You must still fill in the Section 172 notice within the deadline. If the car in the photo is definitely not yours, you can state that. If it is your car but you dispute the speed, you still need to name yourself as the driver. Naming yourself as the driver is not an admission of guilt for the speeding offence.

3. Reject the fixed penalty offer. If you admit to being the driver, the police will usually write back offering you a Fixed Penalty Notice, which is typically a fine and three penalty points, or perhaps a speed awareness course. To challenge the speed camera evidence, you must ignore the offer to pay the fine and instead request a court hearing. There is usually a section on the back of the notice explaining how to do this.

4. Go to the Magistrates Court. By rejecting the fixed penalty, the police will send you a Single Justice Procedure notice or a summons to go to the Magistrates Court. Here, you will formally plead not guilty. A trial date will be set, and you will have the opportunity to present your evidence to the magistrates.

Things to keep in mind:

It is important to weigh up the risks before deciding to take a speeding matter to court.

If you go to court and simply say the camera must have been wrong, you are unlikely to win. The courts generally presume that approved speed cameras are accurate unless you can prove otherwise. To successfully argue that the camera miscalculated your speed, you usually need solid proof, such as GPS data from a dashcam or expert evidence showing the camera was incorrectly calibrated.

There is also a financial risk. The fixed penalty system is designed to keep matters out of court by offering a lower, set fine. If you opt for a court hearing and lose, the magistrates will calculate the fine based on your weekly income, which is often much higher than the fixed penalty. You will also have to pay a victim surcharge and the prosecution's court costs.

In short, it is perfectly possible to fight a faulty camera, but it is always best to gather your proof in the early stages and try to resolve it directly with the police by looking at the photos first.