The benefits of appealing a speeding fine are clear: if you are successful you will not have to pay the fine, nor will you get the points on your licence for the next four years. However, there are also potential drawbacks that could potentially arise if you choose to appeal a speeding ticket and the case goes to court.
Firstly, taking anything to court is expensive, even if you are simply trying to appeal a speeding fine. It is possible to hire lawyers under conditional fee agreements, where you only pay their legal fees if you lose the case. This is only recommended if you are very confident that the speeding ticket appeal is going to be successful as the resulting legal fees end up costing you far more than it would have just to pay the speeding fine in the first place. Court cases also take time to prepare; as well as paying a solicitor to work on the case it will undoubtedly take up a lot of your time too.
If you are disputing a matter such as who the driver was at the time of the offence it will probably come down to your word against the word of the police officer who issued the speeding ticket. Ultimately the outcome of the case is dependent on what the judge decides and there are no guarantees that you will win the court case and have your speeding fine revoked. Moreover, if you are not honest in court about the circumstances surrounding your speeding ticket, you could face even more points and a fine of around £1,000.
Although there are potential risks associated with taking a speeding ticket to court, it is not a possibility worth ruling out completely. If you think there is a chance you could win the appeal, it is worth trying. Very few speeding fine appeals actually end up in court and the chances are you could successfully appeal against your speeding ticket without having to take drastic measures.
Luckily a new website has been launched to help those in need of advice on how to appeal their speeding fine. UKSpeeding.com offers a comprehensive guide to appealing a speeding fine, including information and examples of successful appeals.
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