Impact of Court Summon for FPN lost in post

[samadonline]

Friends,

Apologies for the very long post but I need to set out some background information regarding my situation before I ask my question.

While driving a car in a tunnel in Feb 2012, I inadvertently exceeded the speed limit by 6mph (i.e. driving at 36mph on a 30 mph road). A few days later I received a "Notice of Intended Prosecution" (NIP) from Met Police. I duly responded to the NIP within the stipulated time and also put in a note requesting them to allow me to attend a Speed Awareness Course instead of giving me a Fixed Penalty Notice since it was my first offence and the offence was inadvertent.

I received no further correspondence from Met Police in the subsequent months. However, in August 2012, I received a summon from a magistrate's court for the speeding offence. I was surprised to be summoned to court instead of given an NIP for a small offence. I contacted the Met Police to enquire why I had not been given a court summon instead of an FPN for a minor offence. Their response was that they sent me an offer of a speed awareness course and subsequently two FPNs but I failed to respond. In subsequent telephone conversations with their Traffic enforcement department, I explained that I did not receive any of the subsequent correspondence from the Met Police. I had no reason to ignore the Speed awareness course after making a request for it in the first place, and being an educated professional know too well the consequences of ignoring an FPN! Clearly this was an admin mistake by Met Police. They responded that their records show that FPN was issued to me, and since the case had been referred to court, the matter was out of their hands.

I attended the magistrates court in October 2012 and explained my case. The magistrate acknowledged that I had no reason to ignore the speed awareness course or the FPNs, so it must've been an admin error. Consequently, along with 3 points on my license, the magistrate asked me to pay a small fine of £45 along with a £15 mandatory victim surcharge so that the combined financial impact would be no more than the 3 points plus £60 fine in the case of an FPN. I was also told that I would not have to pay any prosecution charges. Unfortunately, I only have a copy of the final conviction letter, but don't have a detailed transcript of the case since magistrate's courts are not required to record the proceedings.

I found the following note from UKBA which deals with convictions etc. However, I find some of the clauses therein confusing. http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

E.g. in Para 3.1.1 Table point 4 it says that for a 'non-custodial offence' applications should be refused if the conviction occurred in the last 3 years. Does a fine equal a 'non-custodial offence'? Para 3.1.2(e) states that "For what constitutes a non-custodial offence, see section 3.4" (however, I think the referencing is wrong as it should refer to 3.5 - Non-custodial penalties)

Para 3.5.4 states: "In determining whether an applicant meets the "good character" requirement, caseworkers should not normally take into account fixed penalty notices, unless the applicant has received numerous fixed penalty notices in the last 12 months, and this would suggest a pattern of behaviour that calls into question their character. Equally, a fixed penalty notice would not be disregarded if there were criminal proceedings for failure to pay and has led to a more serious penalty as a result. If an application is refused on the basis of either of these reasons, the applicant should be advised that he or she can reapply at a time when he or she does not have more than one fixed penalty notice in the twelve month period before making an application." (Note that the penalty I had to pay was actually reduced compared to the FPN).

Para 3.5.4 further states "Caseworkers should note that if a fixed penalty notice or fiscal fine has been referred to a court due to the non-payment of the fine or if the notice has been challenged by the applicant and subsequently upheld by the court then this is treated as a conviction for the purposes of both the criminality threshold periods (for applications made on or after 13 December 2012) and the 1974 Act (as amended) or Rehabilitation of Offenders (N. Ireland) Order 1978 (for applications made on or before 12 December 2012) and will attract a rehabilitation period."

Elsewhere, para "3.3 When minor convictions may be disregarded" states that "3.3.1 Where the applicant is of good character in all other respects caseworkers should normally be prepared to overlook a single minor unspent conviction resulting in: (d). a relatively small fine or compensation order."

Para 3.3.2 states Caseworkers should not normally disregard any conviction that falls into the following categories irrespective of the severity of the sentence imposed: e. Offences which would constitute “recklessness” – for example, drink-driving, excessive speeding, driving without tax/insurance or whilst using a mobile phone.

I was hoping to get some thoughts for the following points .
a) Should I apply for citizenship immediately (I became eligible in Feb 2013) hoping that the offence described above resulting in a currently unspent conviction will be disregarded by Home Office as "minor conviction" as per paras 3.3.1 and 3.3.2?

b) Or should I wait until October 2013 when the conviction gets spent under the new rehabilitation of offenders Act. If so, are they likely to disregard the spent conviction or are they more likely to stick to the 3 year refusal period for non-judicial offence set out in para 3.1.1?

Would be great to have your experiences / opinions.

[Pqek]

New ROA does not apply for anything related to immigration affairs. this is why the home office have set their own criteria to deal with criminal convictions.

For citizenship applications you will have to wait 3 years if you have a non custodial offence. Your own case looks like a non custodial offence.

Saying that you should run a SAR of your record held in PNC. You may find out nothing is held on it therefore magistrate court has treated the case as a FPN.

Note not all the cases treated in magistrate court end being a criminal conviction. I have a similar case with a speed fine going to court and I have a clean record in PNC.