You may be a seasoned UK motorist, but do you actually know how much a UK speeding fine is? It depends on how fast you were driving and where you were caught – the maximum penalty is £2,500. But more importantly, the minimum cost for a UK speeding ticket is £100, plus three penalty points on your driving licence.
You can appeal a speeding fine, or challenge it in court. But if that goes against you, expect to pay even more. In some circumstances you may also be able to avoid penalty points by taking a Speed Awareness Course, but the £100 minimum charge will be similar.
All of the below information reflects the official UK government guidance.
How do the police catch people speeding?
There are two ways you might get caught speeding here: by speed camera (sometimes also known as a safety camera) or by the police themselves. What happens if you get caught by a speed camera? Well, you will be alerted by post. Initially, this means you will receive either a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) or a Section 172 Notice.
The Section 172 Notice has to be sent back within 28 days, telling the police who was driving the car. Fail to do this and you’ll be required to attend court.
Once the Section 172 Notice has been returned you will then receive either a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) or a letter telling you to go to court. Which you get depends on how fast you were going and/or how many points you already have on your licence.
A Notice of Intended Prosecution – also known as a Section 1 warning, after Section 1 of the 1988 Road Traffic (Offenders) Act – is exactly what it sounds, a warning that the police may prosecute you.
What happens if you get caught speeding by the police?
This will be at the time of the alleged offence, but the results are largely similar – the police have the same powers to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice or order you to go to court.
However, they also have a third option to give you a verbal warning instead. Should they deem this appropriate in the circumstances, count yourself lucky and listen to their advice.
The FPN can be given to you on the spot or sent at a later date.
What are your options if you receive a Fixed Penalty Notice for speeding?
You can plead guilty and pay the fine or plead not guilty and contest the conviction in court.
But know that if you do go to court and are then found guilty, the cost involved is likely to be much higher – up to and including the loss of your licence and immediate disqualification from driving. We have more on this below.
In some circumstances you may be offered a Speed Awareness Course as alternative to both of the above.
How much does a Fixed Penalty Notice for speeding cost?
The whole point of a Fixed Penalty Notice is that the cost of it is always the same – hence ‘fixed’. The current charge for a UK speeding FPN is £100, plus three penalty points on your licence.
This is the lowest fine you can receive for speeding.
How much does a Speed Awareness Course cost?
This varies slightly, but you can expect to pay a similar amount to the Fixed Penalty Notice. But while this won’t save you money, opting for a Speed Awareness Course will avoid you having three points added to your driving licence.
Note that you will only be offered a Speed Awareness Course as an alternative to the FPN if you’ve not been on one in the last three years and if the police deem it appropriate for your offence.
How much does it cost if you contest a speeding fine in court and are still found guilty?
If you are found guilty of speeding at a court hearing, you are likely to be fined a percentage of your weekly salary up to a maximum of £1,000 – or £2,500 if you were caught speeding on the motorway.
In addition to this you can expect to receive penalty points on your licence, or even be banned from driving altogether for a minimum of seven days.
The UK’s Sentencing Council sets the guideline for the fines and other penalties handed out by magistrates courts.
Are there different speeding fines for different speeds in the UK?
Yes. The amount you are fined, and the number of penalty points or length of driving ban you receive, is determined by how much faster than the speed limit you were going.
The seriousness of the speeding offence is determined by a set scale.
This is split into three Bands: A, B and C.
UK speeding fine calculator
Under Band A, the court will start by considering a fine of 50% of your weekly salary, though it has the power to impose a fine in the range of 25-75%. You will also receive three penalty points.
For example If you are caught driving 40mph in a 30mph zone you will be prosecuted under Band A rules. If your annual income is £30,000, you could receive a fine of £288 (50% of your weekly wage) and 3 points on your license.
Band A speeding offences:
| Legal speed limit (mph) | Recorded speed (mph) |
| 20 | 21-30 |
| 30 | 31-40 |
| 40 | 41-55 |
| 50 | 51-65 |
| 60 | 61-80 |
| 70 | 71-90 |
Under Band B, the starting point for the cost of a speeding fine is 100% of your relevant weekly salary, with a range of 75-125%. The court will also impose between four and six penalty points or disqualify you from driving for seven to 28 days.
Band B speeding offences:
| Legal speed limit (mph) | Recorded speed (mph) |
| 20 | 31-40 |
| 30 | 41-50 |
| 40 | 56-65 |
| 50 | 66-75 |
| 60 | 81-90 |
| 70 | 91-100 |
How much is a speed fine under Band C? The starting point is 150% of your relevant weekly salary, with a range of 125-175%. The court will also impose either six penalty points or a seven to 56-day driving ban.
However, the guidelines also explicitly state: ‘Where an offender is driving grossly in excess of the speed limit the court should consider a disqualification in excess of 56 days.’ So that isn’t a set limit.
Band C speeding offences:
| Legal speed limit (mph) | Recorded speed (mph) |
| 20 | 41 and above |
| 30 | 51 and above |
| 40 | 66 and above |
| 50 | 76 and above |
| 60 | 91 and above |
| 70 | 101 and above |
Will the court take anything else into account when deciding the fine and penalty for speeding?
The Sentencing Council guidelines recognise that there can be factors that both increase and reduce the seriousness of a speeding offence.
Among the things that will make the offence more serious include speeding in poor weather, the type of vehicle (speeding in a lorry is worse than speeding in a car due to the potential for damage), what’s on board (passengers or a heavy load, for example) and the location (such as if near a school, in traffic or where there are high numbers of pedestrians).
Things that may reduce the seriousness of the offence include having no previous convictions, ‘good character and/or exemplary conduct’, or a genuine emergency. Though it would be unwise to rely on any of these as a certainty.
For more examples visit the Sentencing Council’s own information on the 2017 speeding revisions – but it says that even its own list is ‘non-exhaustive’.
UK speeding fine licence codes
If you’ve been caught speeding, you’ll see a new code on your driving licence, as per the following list:
SP10 – Exceeding goods vehicle speed limits
SP20 – Exceeding speed limit for type of vehicle (excluding goods or passenger vehicles)
SP30 – Exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road
SP40 – Exceeding passenger vehicle speed limit
SP50 – Exceeding speed limit on a motorway
How long do points for speeding stay on your licence?
Speeding points stay on your driving licence for 4-11 years, depending on the offence.
If you build up 12 or more penalty points on your driving licence within three years, you’ll be usually be disqualified from driving, although in exceptional circumstances a court may make an exemption.
Do I have points on my licence?
You can view your driving licence info online to find out whether currently you have any points on your licence.
Are van speed limits different?
They can be. Check out our separate guide to van speed limits. This also covers pickup truck speed limits.
Do UK speed cameras have tolerances?
Exceeding the speed limit makes you liable for a fine under the law. Whether you’re going 31mph in a 30 zone or 71mph on the motorway, you’re breaking the law.
Some constabularies program tolerances into their speed cameras to account for faulty or erroneous speedometers. Most offer a tolerance of 10% of the speed limit plus two miles an hour, so if the speed limit is 50mph, you could get away with driving at 57mph past a speed camera. However, speed tolerances shouldn’t be relied upon as some constabularies may not be so lenient.
How do you avoid getting caught speeding?
Don’t exceed the speed limit. Speed cameras do also perform a useful safety function for law abiding motorists as well, however, as they are often sited on sections of road that have proven to be dangerous accident black spots (which is why they are also known as safety cameras).
For this reason, some drivers invest in radar detectors that can spot speed cameras and other forms of speed enforcement. Navigation apps for your phone such as Waze can also alert you to speed camera locations, and even the presence of the police in general (though the police have recently been accused of ‘spamming’ Waze with false reports of themselves in order to encourage drivers to stay within the law).
Seriously, folks. Just stick to the speed limit.
