The Notice of Intended Prosecution — and the 28-day trap
If a speed camera caught your car, the police have 14 days to send the registered keeper two things: a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) and a Section 172 notice. (If a police officer stopped you at the roadside, you’re warned in person — no posted NIP is needed.) The NIP simply tells you an offence is alleged. The Section 172 form is the part that catches people out.
- You must return the Section 172 form within 28 days, telling the police exactly who was driving — even if that was you.
- Don’t know who was driving? You must still respond and make reasonable enquiries — silence is not an option the law allows.
- Ignoring it is itself an offence (failing to give the driver’s identity, code MS90) carrying 6 penalty points and a fine, and it can send you to court. That’s double the 3 points for the speeding it was meant to be about.
The number-one mistake
People put the letter in a drawer because they’re stressed, or hope a camera-only ticket will disappear. It won’t — and the unanswered form becomes a far bigger problem than the speeding. The safe move is always the same: respond in time, name the driver honestly, keep a copy. SortedUK never advises trying to dodge liability — the goal here is to respond correctly so you keep the lighter options open.
Once your Section 172 form is back, the police send you either a Fixed Penalty Notice or a letter telling you to go to court — and sometimes the offer of a speed awareness course. Those are your three roads.
Your three options — fine, course, or court
| Route | What it means |
|---|
| Fixed Penalty Notice | £100 fine + 3 penalty points (the minimum). Plead guilty and pay through the official route. Points stay on your record for 4 years. |
| Speed awareness course | Offered for lower-end speeds if the police decide it’s appropriate and you haven’t been on one in the past 3 years. You pay the course fee instead of the fine and usually get no points. An option, not a right. |
| Court | If you plead not guilty, or the speed was too high for an FPN. Fine is usually a percentage of weekly income, up to £1,000 (£2,500 on a motorway), with 3–6 points or a short ban. You can be fined more and get more points than the fixed penalty if found guilty. |
Take the course if it’s offered
A speed awareness course is the calmest outcome there is: no penalty points on your licence, so no insurance hit from points and nothing counting towards a ban. You pay the course fee, give up a few hours, and walk away clean. The eligible speed range is set by the police, not by you — if they offer it, it’s almost always worth taking.
How the fine is set at court depends on the limit and how far over it you were — magistrates work from the Sentencing Council’s speeding guidelines, which band offences by severity (the bands move with the speed and the limit; we keep the exact thresholds qualitative here because they turn on the specific reading). Court cases are commonly dealt with under the Single Justice Procedure, where you can enter your plea online without attending in person.
Pay or plead only through the official GOV.UK route printed on your notice — never a third-party “pay your fine” site. If a draft response would help you write to the police clearly, our letter machine can shape one.
The 12-point line — totting up
You can be disqualified if you reach
12 or more penalty points within 3 years. If you’re already carrying points, even a routine 3-point speeding offence can tip you over — at which point court, not a course, decides your future.
Check your points before you choose your route. Want to see how it escalates if you do nothing? Our
what happens next guide maps the chain.
New drivers — the 6-point cliff edge
If you passed your test less than 2 years ago, your licence is revoked the moment you reach 6 points. A single SP30 speeding offence can carry 3 to 6 points — and two 3-point offences is enough. New drivers should treat a course (no points) as gold dust, and think very carefully before pleading not guilty.
After the dust settles — tell your insurer, watch your health
Whatever route you take, two follow-ups matter:
- Tell your insurer. Points must usually be declared at renewal — hiding them can void a policy. A speed awareness course is not a conviction and many insurers don’t load for it, but a few ask; answer honestly if asked.
- Don’t mix up the rules. A speeding offence is separate from medical fitness to drive — but if a health condition affects your driving you must tell DVLA regardless. See our DVLA medical conditions guide.
- Parking tickets are different. A PCN from a council or private firm is not a speeding offence and follows its own appeal route — that’s our appeal a parking fine guide.
Do this now
Got the camera letter? Diary the 28-day deadline today and return the Section 172 form naming the driver — that single step keeps the cheapest options open and avoids the 6-point trap.
Waiting to hear which offer you’ll get? Check your current points at gov.uk/view-driving-licence so you know whether a course or a not-guilty plea is the smart call — and never pay through any site that isn’t the official GOV.UK one.
Scotland & Northern Ireland
The £100/3-point fixed penalty and the 14-day/28-day notice rules described here are the position in England and Wales. In Scotland, minor speeding is typically handled by a conditional offer from the Procurator Fiscal (COPFS) rather than the FPN system, and fines are paid through the Scottish courts. Northern Ireland runs its own fixed-penalty arrangements via nidirect. Check the body named on your own notice.