Insurance
What is a fixed penalty notice?
Driving fines, points, and what you should do next
Ryan Barham
Last updated: 05/09/2025
Ryan Barham
Last updated: 05/09/2025
As reported in the Cumbria News and Star, recent Tempcover research revealed drivers in England and Wales have been issued with nearly 20 million fixed penalty notices (FPNs) between 2018 and 2023 - the most recent data on record.
Often unexpected and unwanted, FPNs can be issued for offences ranging from forgetting to update your paperwork to driving while on your phone - with fines and penalty points increasing depending on how serious the offence is.
But what should you do if you receive one of those letters from the police? We’ll cover everything you need to know about driving fines, including how long it will take to receive notice of a FPN, what you should do when you receive one and if it counts as a conviction.
Our study looked at the types of offences recorded, how many fines were cancelled and how many drivers ended up in court.
The biggest increase in fines between 2018 and 2023 was the 63% uplift in operator’s licence offences, which normally apply to commercial drivers. Fines more relevant to everyday motorists included:
Offence | 2018 | 2023 | 2018-2023 Change | 6-Year Total |
Operator's licence offences | 23 | 63 | 63.49% | 244 |
Offences involving careless driving | 21,699 | 56,289 | 61.45% | 244,166 |
Vehicle registration and excise licence offences | 12,225 | 29,105 | 58.00% | 130,819 |
Load offences | 7,214 | 14,687 | 50.88% | 66,686 |
Noise offences | 579 | 1,151 | 49.70% | 5,160 |
Vehicle or part in dangerous or defective condition | 11,353 | 20,150 | 43.66% | 98,208 |
Miscellaneous motoring offences | 449 | 758 | 40.77% | 3,502 |
Neglect of pedestrian rights | 5,025 | 8,370 | 39.96% | 38,920 |
Neglect of traffic directions | 107,457 | 163,550 | 34.30% | 650,871 |
Speed limit offences | 2,386,720 | 3,486,691 | 31.55% | 16,810,974 |
Motorway offences (other than speeding) | 4,003 | 5,257 | 23.85% | 27,232 |
Offences peculiar to motorcycles | 391 | 491 | 20.37% | 3,038 |
Use of hand-held mobile while driving | 40,946 | 49,254 | 16.87% | 204,154 |
Lighting offences | 7,340 | 8,177 | 10.24% | 47,235 |
Seat belt offences | 55,023 | 55,983 | 1.71% | 332,256 |
Vehicle insurance offences | 74,572 | 69,080 | -7.95% | 447,025 |
Vehicle test offences | 43,656 | 37,952 | -15.03% | 237,278 |
Driving licence-related offences | 18,131 | 15,749 | -15.12% | 120,023 |
Obstruction, waiting and parking offences | 34,780 | 20,547 | -69.27% | 157,768 |
Work record or employment offences | 5,839 | 3,094 | -88.72% | 24,561 |
Using or keeping a heavy goods vehicle if levy not paid | 243 | 58 | -318.97% | 629 |
Fixed penalty notices were originally brought in in the 1950s to address minor parking offences, but were expanded to cover more motoring violations in the 1988 Road Traffic Act. They now go beyond motoring, with FPNs issued for anti-social behaviour, night noise and environmental crime.
According to the AA, they remain widely used to enforce ‘moving traffic offences’ including:
Careless and inconsiderate driving, or driving without due care and attention, saw an increase of 61%. This offence occurs when a driver’s standard falls below that of a competent and careful driver. Some examples of this include tailgating, driving through a red light by mistake and unnecessarily slow driving or braking.
Vehicle registration and excise licence offences including forgery, fraudulent use of documents and unpaid tax saw an increase of 58%, while noise offences (e.g. exhausts over the legal noise limit and anti-social driving) went up by 49% in these six years.
These stats show how seriously driving offences are taken. If you want to avoid unexpected and unwanted fines or points, you need to practise safe and responsible driving. You should also ensure your car is in working order, making sure you have regular MOTs, servicing and basic maintenance checks.
Speeding remains the most common issue, with over 16 million FPNs being issued for this offence in this time period. The minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points added to your licence.
If you’re caught by a speed camera, you will receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) and Section 172 notice within 14 days of the offence, and you have to return this confirming who was driving the car within 28 days of receiving it. If you don’t send the Section 172 notice back, you’ll be sent a FPN or a letter telling you to go to court.
If you’re stopped by the police, you could get a verbal warning, an FPN or a court order in person. You can find out more about the UK speed limits and the latest number of UK speeding offences on the Tempcover blog.
Paying an FPN (and accepting points or taking a speed awareness course) prevents it from becoming a criminal conviction. This means it won’t show in any DBS check. The points will still remain on your driving record but your licence will remain clean.
There is no appeal against a fixed penalty notice. If you disagree with the ruling, your only option is to request a court hearing. Be aware the fines imposed by the courts can be much more severe than the original fixed penalty.
Endorsable | Non-endorsable |
Typical offences: Speeding, traffic light offences, careless driving, pedestrian crossing offences, driving without insurance, using a phone while driving | Typical offences: Driving without an MOT, failing to comply with traffic signs, not wearing a seatbelt, some parking offences |
Typical penalties: At least 3 points and fines from £100 | Typical penalties: Fines from around £30 to £100, but this may vary |
If you’re the registered keeper of the vehicle, you will receive an NIP through the post within 14 days of the offence taking place. This will be followed by a Section 172 notice that asks you to confirm the driver’s identity and accept liability.
If you accept this, the police will have six months from the date of the offence to issue the FPN, but this will often be quicker. Once you receive the FPN, you have the following options:
FPNs may be cancelled if they are issued in error.
Firstly, you could receive points on your licence. These vary depending on the severity of the offence. You can be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within 3 years, while new drivers can have their licence revoked if they get 6 or more points within 2 years of passing their test.
You must tell your insurer if you have received an FPN or any penalty points as failure to do so could void your policy. Insurers will consider you to be a riskier driver if you have an FPN and this is likely to result in higher premiums.
These points will stay on your driving licence for 4 to 11 years, again depending on the severity of the offence. These endorsements are ‘valid’ for the first 3 years of a 4-year endorsement and 10 years of an 11-year endorsement.
Insurers and employers can check the endorsement any time during a 4-year endorsement and during the first 5 years of an 11-year endorsement.
The FPN notice will have instructions on how to pay the fine. Methods vary depending on the issuing authority but options normally include paying online or over the phone. You will need the number noted on the FPN notice to make your payment.
If you want to challenge a FPN, you will have to request a court hearing. If you’re found guilty by the court, you will end up having to pay a more expensive fine. If you pay your fine within 28 days of receiving a FPN, the matter will be resolved.
In the motoring world:
The short answer is no, as Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are normally issued for parking offences.
If you want to avoid unexpected penalties, it’s important to drive safely and follow the rules of the Highway Code. Don’t drive over the speed limit and allow yourself extra time to get where you need to go.
Ensure you carry out basic maintenance checks and that all of your paperwork is up to date. Is your car taxed and insured? If you haven’t renewed your policy, do not drive as you could face a £300 fixed penalty notice and six penalty points.
If you need to get somewhere fast, you could take out temporary car insurance. Comprehensive and flexible from 1 to 28 days, it ensures you’re legally covered to drive. Just make sure you adhere to the other rules of the road to avoid any fixed penalty notices.
Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2023
https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/driving-offences/
https://www.gov.uk/penalty-points-endorsements/endorsement-codes-and-penalty-points
https://www.gov.uk/browse/driving/penalty-points-fines-bans
https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/driving-offences
https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/fixed-penalty
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/fixed-penalty-notices/
https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/driving-offences
A parking ticket can be a fixed penalty notice if it’s issued by the police, local council or DVSA. However, many of these are now penalty charge notices (PCN). You have 28 days to formally challenge a PCN. If you do this within 14 days and your challenge is requested, you might only have to pay 50% of the fine.
If you decide to challenge, you must:
Find out more about challenging a parking ticket on gov.uk.
Most FPNs will be expected to be paid in full. If you have financial concerns, you could try contacting the authority who issued the FPN direct to discuss your options. It may also be worth contacting Citizens Advice.
Section 172 is part of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It requires a vehicle’s registered keeper to provide details of the driver at the time of an alleged motoring offence. If you don’t respond to a Section 172 notice (typically sent alongside an FPN notice), you could receive 6 penalty points, a fine and potential disqualification from driving.
The police have 14 days to send a Section 172 notice to the registered keeper and a response is required within 28 days of it being received.
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