Fixed Penalty Notice Contact Details – How To Get In Touch

Have you just got a Fixed Penalty Notice and are not sure what to do next? You’ve come to the right place! Each month, over 130,000 people visit our website for advice on fines and parking tickets.

In this easy-to-read guide, we will help you understand:

• What a Fixed Penalty Notice means.
• How to find out if you need to pay or if you can challenge it.
• The right way to challenge a Fixed Penalty Notice.
• Situations where you might not have to pay.
• What might happen if the notice is not paid.

We understand that getting a notice can be stressful, but don’t worry; you’re not alone. In fact, a group of MPs and Peers say FPNs, which can cost up to £10,000, are hard to understand and might be unfair.¹

With our experience, we’re here to make things easier for you with lots of handy advice and examples.

Dealing With A Fixed Penalty Notice

How you deal with a fixed penalty notice will depend on the type of FPN.

An FPN is a legal document, seeking payment for officially levied fines from the council or police.

For example, you might get an FPN by post if a speeding camera catches you over the limit.

I have briefly outlined the three types of fixed penalty notices below.

Endorsable FPN

You will have 21 days to pay this fine, and you must hand your driving licence over at the local police station.

This is because you will likely receive penalty points on your licence. 

Non-endorsable FPN

Non-endorsable FPN – generally a fairly small fine, you must pay it within 21 days. No penalty points will be added to your licence.

Conditional offer

Conditional offer is sent to the registered keeper, who must then provide details of the person who was driving it.

The driver can then settle the fine.

How To Pay A Fixed Penalty Notice

There are potentially three ways you can pay a fine associated with a fixed penalty notice.

Whether you can use all three options will depend on your local authority, and whether they accept all three forms of payment.

The three are:

1. Pay by telephone – using a credit or debit card.
2. Pay by post – you can send a cheque.
3. Pay online – The UK Government operates a number of web-based services for paying an FPN. For example, there is a site for paying FPN for parking offences.

Please note though, that simply paying an endorsable FPN is not enough.

You are legally obliged to take your driving licence into your local police station within 7 days.Do not forget to do this.

If you don’t do it, this could result in a warrant for your arrest being issued.

In this case, you are no longer looking at a civil offence, you have potentially switched over to a criminal offence, which will result in a criminal record.

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Should You Pay Your FPN Or Challenge It?

Whether you simply pay up, or try to get out of the fixed penalty notice will obviously depend on which type of notice.

If you are facing penalty points on your licence, and you think you have a chance of winning if you challenge the FPN, you may consider it.

For lesser offences, with small fines, it might be best just to pay up, even if you believe you are innocent.

The effort involved in challenging the FPN is likely not worth it just to save a minor amount of money.

Check out why this motorist got a £75 Penalty Charge Notice for accidentally dropping litter.

Source: Moneysavingexpert

Fixed Penalty Notice Appeal Reasons

I’ve put together this table to help you better understand some valid appeal reasons and increase your chances of success.

What happens if I ignore an FPN?

You risk being taken to court when you fail to pay an FPN.

In short, you risk being prosecuted in a magistrate’s court and a warrant for your arrest could be issued.

Reasons to challenge an FPN

You could challenge an FPN for the following reasons:

• You did not commit an offence
• The FPN was incorrectly issued
• Someone else committed the offence

The cost of challenging an FPN

Challenging an FPN could be expensive, especially if you have legal representation in court.

Plus, if you lose the court case, you will have to pay court costs on top of an increased fine and the legal fees you’re charged.

As I see it, you should carefully weigh up the risks of losing a case when you challenge an FPN.

Making Fixed Penalty Notice Enquiries

In some cases, you may need to make an enquiry about the FPN.

For example, if you are sent a speeding ticket more than 14 days after the offence took place.

Take note that minor mistakes on the fixed penalty notice, such as the date being printed wrong, won’t be a reason to challenge the FPN.

A clerical error when sending the FPN doesn’t give you a free out.

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Calling The Fixed Penalty Notice Helpline

There is no national fixed penalty notice helpline.

So you don’t have a single point of contact to make an enquiry or a complaint. However, many local authorities operate localised helpline services. 

Something worth noting is that many legal firms offer some type of legal helpline for people who want to challenge a fixed penalty notice.

If you already know you are going to need legal assistance, using such a service might be an option.

Making Contact With A Fixed Penalty Notice Email

Once again, there is no national email service for making enquiries about an FPN.

Your local authority may have an enquiries email address, and you should be able to find this on the local council or police website if there is one.

References

1. UK Parliament — FPN