Speed awareness courses and the offer window
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
A speed awareness course is an offer the police force may make instead of a fixed penalty or prosecution: pay a fee about the size of the ticket, complete the course, and the allegation ends with no points, no conviction and no code. Drivers call it the speeding course or the driver awareness course, and it arrives as a letter from the force or its course provider after the s. 172 reply. Two things the letter does not say: the eligibility window it silently applied is national guidance rather than law, and whether an offer comes at all is the force's choice, not a right the driver holds.
Reading the notice
The recorded speed against the limit is what placed the case in the window; the letter usually does not cite the band, because the band is NPCC guidance, not statute
The booking and completion dates in the letter are the force's own; passing them usually revives the fixed penalty route rather than extending the offer
The fee shown is the provider's and varies by area, about the same as the fixed penalty; it is not a fine, and completing the course leaves nothing on the licence
The decision in front of you
Take the course: the fee is roughly the ticket, the clock is the letter's own booking window, no points and no code follow, and it is not a conviction of the kind insurers typically ask about for five years, though some ask about courses too; a course is typically available only once in three years
Decline or let the offer lapse and the ordinary ladder resumes: a conditional offer of fixed penalty at 100 pounds and 3 points, normally lapsing 28 days after it is made, or a Single Justice Procedure Notice
Hold out for a court-ordered course and the map ends: courts have no speed awareness course to give; diversion lives before the charge, and after it the menu is fine, points or, in the top band, a short ban, covered in the fine bands guide
Silence toward the s. 172 request while waiting for an offer loses twice: with no named driver there is nobody to offer a course to, and the failure to identify is its own offence at six points, s. 172 RTA 1988
What happens next
Book, attend and complete within the letter's window and the force closes the case; completion is reported back, and nothing reaches the licence or the record insurers read as a conviction
Miss or fail the course and the offer usually falls back to the fixed penalty or a Single Justice Procedure Notice; the prosecution backstop stays s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, six months from the offence to lay a charge
The no-repeat clock runs offence date to offence date: another camera inside three years and the course route is typically closed, leaving ticket or court
The numbers
Offer window under national guidance: from 10 per cent over the limit plus 2 mph up to 10 per cent plus 9, in a 30 limit that is 35 to 42 mph; NPCC guidance, expressly not law, and forces keep discretion inside it (verified 2026-07-16)
Course fee: set by the provider and varying by area, about the same as the fixed penalty
Fixed penalty for speeding if the offer is declined or lapses: 100 pounds and 3 points (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16)
The deadlines
Booking and completion run on the dates in the offer letter itself; the letter, not statute, sets them
The conditional offer of fixed penalty normally lapses 28 days after it is made
The s. 172 request stays on its own 28-day clock, and the charge must be laid within six months of the offence, s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980
What people get wrong
Booking the course but not completing it before the force's date; the offer usually dies with the deadline, and the fixed penalty returns with the points the course would have avoided
Treating the window as an entitlement; 10 per cent plus 2 to plus 9 is guidance, and a force can withhold an offer inside it, because the window binds nobody
Assuming no code means no question; some insurers ask about courses expressly at renewal, and the duty on the answer is to take reasonable care not to misrepresent, s. 2 Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012
Authority
NPCC speed enforcement guidance (guidance, not statute)
s. 172 Road Traffic Act 1988
s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980
s. 2 Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012