Cengolio · Fines · Codes · SP40
SP40 : exceeding passenger vehicle speed limit
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it means
SP40 is the passenger-vehicle mirror of SP10: buses and coaches carry limits below the posted signs, and the code records the vehicle's limit being broken rather than the road's. For the professional driver the entry matters twice, on the licence itself and on the vocational entitlement that hangs on the same record. The shared SP mechanics live in the family note.
Points and how long it stays
3 to 6 points.
On the licence for 4 years from the date of the offence.
The SP codes split speeding by cause, not by consequence: SP30 for the ordinary road, SP50 for the motorway, SP10, SP20 and SP40 where the vehicle or what it tows carries a limit below the signs. Everything else is shared. The fixed penalty route is always 3 points (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16); the 4 to 6 end of the range exists only through a court, where the fine bands take over by speed over the limit. A completed speed awareness course produces no code at all, which is why the same journey can leave two identical drivers with different records. Where a court disqualifies instead of endorsing points, the 4 years on the record run from conviction rather than the offence (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17). And the code's last digit carries the role: a 2 for aiding, a 4 for causing or permitting, a 6 for inciting, so SP34 is SP30 committed through someone else's right foot.
The usual route
The camera case runs as a conditional offer at 3 points with the standard fixed penalty sum (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16).
If it goes to court
In court the fine is income-banded with the range open to 6 points or a ban; the money mechanics sit in the fine bands guide.
Read next
Authority
gov.uk, Penalty points (endorsements), checked 2026-07-17