This doesn't seem right

I don't know where to turn for info on this and am hoping someone knows more than I do!

We (my husband) got a traffic ticket for driving 7 miles over the limit on a road.  We paid the fine we received by mail.  Paid it on time as well.

We then received a letter notifying us that the ticket was sent to the magistrate because we are American expats, no one knows how to deal with the ticket and our paid fine.

That seemed very strange as don't expats (American or otherwise) get tickets and pay them in the UK?

We then received a letter notifying us that we needed to send in all sorts of information or else we would be fined again.  The information the magistrate demands includes the number of children/dependents we have, earned income, how much we spend each month on food, entertainment, clothing, petrol, home repair, personal care, etc, any donations we make to charities, our religious identification.  It goes on and on, really.  The number of cigarettes we smoke, how much we pay for them, how much we spend on lottery, how many drinks per week, how much we spend on alcohol.

It reads in dark print and all caps:  It is now an offence not to provide this information.  It is nine pages of typed information about the speeding, a photo of us when it occured (that's cool, no prob there), just a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense to us!

We are very concerned about providing such information and what is going to be done with it.  Why is this relevant to our paid ticket for speeding 7 miles over the limit? 

Has anyone heard of this process and why our payment isn't sufficient because we are expats?

Oh, btw, we are well within the year grace period for driving on the US license.  We are also paid up on our car insurance.

TIA.

I have no advice but do keep us posted, this seems really unfair so far.

Good Luck!

Just want to say good luck and if you have the chance to appear in court TAKE IT! My husband had a minor speeding ticket while he was driving on his American license. We also sent in the money for the fine but they couldn't process it. Ended up sending it to court, we didn't appear thinking it would be suck a minor fee we would just deal when it came.  The original ticket we tried to pay was I believe £40. Final fee? £275  What we were told was it was basically a punishment since they couldn't put points on his licese.  Go to court if you can, fight the ticket or at the very least fight an outrageous fee.

Rosie

I've heard that if you don't have a UK licence, you must appear in court because there is no way to penalize your license from the US.  All of that information does seem excessive though, and not necessary for processing a simple speeding ticket.

It sounds really unfair and odd to me!  You might want to try talking to the Citizens Advice Bureau (not just for British citizens, by the way!)

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

They are a great resource with things of this nature.  Do keep us posted, and good luck! 

I've heard that if you don't have a UK licence, you must appear in court because there is no way to penalize your license from the US.  All of that information does seem excessive though, and not necessary for processing a simple speeding ticket.

No, you don't have to appear, just your case.   But seriously I would show up! 

Sounds like they are trying to fine you in the standard British way,

Whenever the Brits hand out a fine, it is means tested.

So, the more disposable income you have, the more the fine.

Are you residents in the UK?  If you are, fill it all out and get it off to them as soon as possible.

If you aren't a resident, then I would no worry about it, they aren't going to extradite you over a speeding ticket.

IANAL

GlennBrit (on litl_u's computer)

Thank you everyone!  All these stories and info are very helpful.

We're not residents, we're here on a work permit.  But if we change our mind someday, then it seems we'll be screwed b/c of a 7 mile over limit speeding.

Yes, it seems that the statement of means is how we will be ultimately fined.  But dang, asking about how much we spend on these items feels very invasive, worse than Patriot Act II.  We also worry about filing taxes and a discrepency between this statement of means and our filing.  If we have 'false' info on statement of means, it's £2,500 fine.

I think the CAB is a great idea, too.  There has to be some justice here.  Looks like we are about to be fined very heavily as we have a good chunk of disposable income.  We are saving money - what a concept!  Argh.