If you go to court and are convicted of a speeding offence, you will expect to get at least 3 speeding points on your licence and a £100 speeding fine. Higher speeds will normally attract a bigger fine and more points on your driving licence. Sentencing is at the discretion of the magistrates, but usually speeding fines and penalties are kept within the recommended sentencing guidelines. You can find out at this page how many speeding points you are likely to get on your licence and information about speeding fines in the UK.
Basic Speeding Fine Guidelines
The fine for speeding is within Band A for 3 point offences and Band B for offences for which 4, 5 or 6 points is the licence points endorsement. Costs and victim support surcharge may be added.
Band A = Starting point at 50% of relevant weekly income, with a range from 25% to 75%.
Band B = Starting point at 100% of relevant weekly income, with a range from 75% to 125%
What does Relevant Weekly Income mean?
This is the income that is used by Magistrates when deciding the amount of speeding fine to be imposed.
Employed or self employed:
Relevant weekly income is any amount of money the offender earns per week after tax and national insurance that is more than £100.00 per week.
For those on state benefit or low incomes:
If an offender earns or receives less than £100 per week then their relevant weekly income is deemed to be £100. Benefits are not taken into account.
Instalments
A fine is payable in full on the day it is imposed. However periodic payments may be allowed as long as any fines are paid within 12 months. The maximum weekly payment for those on state benefits should rarely exceed £5
An offender is asked to fill out a financial means form. Where an offender fails to fill out such a form or gives insufficient reliable information, the court is entitled to make any determination it sees fit regarding the financial means of the offender. When no information is given, magistrates proceed on the basis of an assumed relevant weekly income of £350.00.
Savings
Savings are not taken into account in deciding the level of fine but may be taken into account where an applicant applies to pay in instalments, .
Where an offender has little or no income but does have substantial savings, the court may consider it appropriate to adjust the amount of fine to reflect this.
The aim of these guidelines is for the speeding fine to have an equal impact on offenders with different financial circumstances; it should be a hardship but should not force the offender below a reasonable subsistence level. So the greater your income the higher the speeding fine.