We are now in the club!

When were you there?

The infraction was May 17th. On our way to freaking airport!

Actually it seems worse than a speeding ticket. They are saying they are "taking proceedings against the driver". Reading the lengthy legal document on my phone is a challenge.

What was the infraction? Do they say?

I ask when you were there because I rented in Scotland around that time and fear getting something like that and wonder how long one must fear this.

I don't know know how long it takes to catch up with you. Our infraction was almost six weeks ago. I've read about other countries taking months.

It's a document full of legal terms but buried it says exceeding speed limit at a red light. Does that mean we went through a red light? We shall login at the provided website tonight and try to figure it out. The document is clearly tailored to drivers from England, not tourists, as it mentions going to drivers training.

I got a ticket when I was in Devon in late March heading to Cornwall for being in a bus lane. I received the notice from Europcar (which charged me £40 for the privilege), but they told me that they had passed my name and address on to the Plymouth City Council as they have to send it to me direct.

I emailed them to ask a few questions, and they told me that there was a chance I would not receive anything as it may not be worth the time and effort for them to collect. It was a relatively minor infraction and the penalty was around £35, and as of this date (2 months after I first received it), I have yet to receive a notice directly from the council. So fingers crossed! Hopefully yours won't be too bad, Andrea!

The term "exceeding speed limit at a red light" is confusing. There's the offence of speeding and there's the offence of failing to stop at a red light, two separate and distinct offences just as anywhere else. The fact that driver training is mentioned would lead me to suspect that there was a speeding offence. In the UK you can avoid points on your licence by undergoing a speed awareness course (at your own expense, about £80 I believe) which, since COVID, are now delivered online via video conference. A speeding fine issued via the post is called a Notice of Intended Prosecution, effectively requiring the owner of the vehicle to inform the police who was driving at the time otherwise they can be prosecuted.

As a foreign driver you cannot receive points on your licence and the option of a driver awareness course is not available to you however a fine can be imposed.

I seem to remember getting a ticket last year at home with a similar description. I was photographed at a red light camera. If I have to guess, you sped up at a yellow light but didn't make it through the intersection before the light turned red, so they got you for both.

Wow, remind me not to let Andrea or Mardee drive me anywhere! ;-)

Most red light cameras also record speed (by using radar and/or sensors / ground loops embedded in the road). You may have both run the light and exceeded the speed limit from the description but unless one or other is particularly egregious the usual course of action is a single £100 fixed penalty and 3 points on licence for those where this can get imposed. As an awareness course has been mentioned as an option (even if not for you) this seems most likely.

We have successfully logged into the Merseyside Police Portal and declared Chris was indeed driving. It says that now we wait for another letter with options.

Our friend in Liverpool thought the offence listed was a typo, and he appears to be right. When we logged in it clearly showed we were going 36 in a 30. This business of zero time to a red light wasn't even mentioned. He knew exactly where it was, having been caught in the exact same place a few years ago.

I shall report back the fine, and if we get the option of an online traffic course.

Just a little sidenote, and I'm surprised our British friends haven't mentioned it.....but....."in the club" is UK slang for being pregnant.

When I first saw the headline I was going to say "congratulations" but I'm glad I read the post first.

I didn't mention it because I've never heard it used as slang for being pregnant. Others may have but not me.

I am not familiar with that use of in the club... but I'm not in London - so maybe there. New one to me

Certainly in the north of England it is a commonly used slang term for being pregnant. I don't know about the south.

And as this is set in Liverpool it definitely applies there.

In the club means pregnant but I can’t say I’ve heard it used recently. I think it’s a bit old fashioned?

I opened the post assuming it was some kind of pregnancy announcement!

I did know that, having read many books with the term, but I didn't even think of it when I titled my post! Maybe I should have said "we're part of the tradition "!

Oh forgot to mention, as a public service announcement.

Speed cameras work differently there, at least in certain places. There are two, and they calculate the time (speed) it took you to travel between the two points. It's no help to you to slow down just at the camera.

I don't think this is the case where we were caught, but we certainly saw it in many places.

Just a little sidenote, and I'm surprised our British friends haven't
mentioned it.....but....."in the club" is UK slang for being pregnant.

When I first saw the headline I was going to say "congratulations" but
I'm glad I read the post first.

My first thought was the Mile High Club. Then congrats would also have been in order...

The "average speed cameras" are a pain in the neck. We even have them in the Lake District- although not on roads used by many people on this forum.
The best known location here is the westbound (only) A66 along Bassenthwaite lake. The westbound dual carriageway unbelievably used to be two way, but is now just westbound. Eastbound is a good road built on the old railway track bed- where you can really get moving.
But in that case every other solution (passive and engineering wise) had been tried and failed, and it was a real accident blackspot. But it sure spoilt the fun of that winding stretch of road for the locals who knew how to take the road seriously fast but safely.
Plus point- very few accidents now, minus point -everyone puts their foot down between Bass Lake station and Cockermouth.

The A9 between Perth and Inverness is also infamously festooned with them every 3 or 4 miles for long stretches with rolling averages being taken apparently between every two cameras. Undoubtedly the road is far safer now, but it is also slower and can be frustrating.

Wow, remind me not to let Andrea or Mardee drive me anywhere! ;-)

Ha ha ha, Dick! Okay, I do have to explain that I was not driving recklessly. I had taken a wrong turn off the roundabout to get on the Tamar Bridge, as I was heading from Plymouth in Devon to Cornwall, and was trying to get back on the right route. I took the exit that got me back on the road heading to the bridge, but it was raining and I could not tell that it was marked as a bus lane. FWIW, even if I knew, I don't know that I could have avoided it where I was.

Here's the end of the story.

We are (Chris is) opting to pay a fine of £100. There was an option to take an online traffic safely course. Unfortunately you have to choose before you know the cost or have an idea about time commitment. And our concern is there could be road rules we just don't know, and what happens if you don't get a sufficient grade? Since the previous poster thinks the course costs £80, the fine seems the easiest way to resolve the issue.

Lesson learned! Although we won't be driving in foreign lands for at least three years.

Well except Philadelphia later this month!

good that there's a resolution....

Good to know and thanks for the update, Andrea! Glad it was a relatively mild infraction and not too costly.

There was an option to take an online traffic safely course. Unfortunately you have to choose before you know the cost or have an idea about time commitment. And our concern is there could be road rules we just don't know, and what happens if you don't get a sufficient grade?

Don't worry, it's not a course where you are awarded a grade or even a pass, it's a speed awareness lecture that those caught speeding can opt to undergo instead of receiving points on their licence. As points on your licence can often result in increased insurance costs many people think that's it's a worthwhile alternative however it lasts several hours and some people would rather just take the hit of a fine and points. As Chris cannot receive points on his licence then the £100 fine makes sense instead of the £80 fine and half day lecture which if you were going to participate would have meant doing so in the middle of the night as the courses are conducted remotely but are done in live time and typically start at 08:00 GMT.