Speeding offence on a foreign licence and period in which doucument leading to a summons must be issued

I was photographed speeding on M4, doing 58 in a temp. 40 zone. I hold a Dutch driving licence but am resident in England. I was offered a fixed penalty of £60 and 3 points, but due to the non UK licence, I have now been summonsed. The alleged ffence was committed 24-7-06, the summons received 13-2-07. Is this out of time? Will the fine be greater than what it would have been had I had a UK licence ?

If the document leading to the issue of the summons was filed with the court within six month (so in your case, by 24th January) the case is in date. Please note, this doesn't mean that the summons has to be issued within the six month period.

It is worth a call to court staff in your case as if the documentation was received after the date the case cannot be tried.

Drivers on foreign licenses do tend to receive higher penalties as there is not yet a Europe-wide system for imposing penalty points, but the penalty is decided by the magistrates. At these speeds as you say, the case would have been dealt with under the Fixed Penalty system had you been a UK driver and provided you are not a serial speeder, you can expect a relatively small penalty.

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