EEA citizen – excessive speeding and the magistrate court

[Alvin88]

First of all - Hello everybody. :)

Here is my case:

I am a Polish citizen living in the UK.

On 29 of May 2009 (Friday evening) I was caught while I was doing 103.1 on M25 in mine Toyota. I was the only person in the car.

Because I have Polish driving license the policeman couldn’t do anything – just check all my papers (ID and a Polish driving license) and gave me the paper with the notice that I have to go to the police station within 7 days and produce my papers about the car - Insurance, MOT, etc. I went to the police station on Monday – 3 days after the event (so within 7 days) and showed them everything (Polish driving license, Polish ID Card, Polish Passport, MOT, Insurance, etc. – everything was OK – valid MOT, valid insurance etc.).

Later on – in late October I have received a letter ‘summons’ – about the whole issue – which sais me to go to Magistrate Court in Guilford on Tue, 24 of Nov 2009 about the whole issue. I did – - I plead guilty in the front on the Magistrate Court (and I have promised that I will never do it again) – and I got 6 penalty points, and a fine (total £358 - divided as:
- £300 as a HM COURTS SERVICE,
- £43 as a SURREY POLICE speeding – exceed 70 mph manned equipment,
- £15 as a LIBERATA VICTIM SURCHARGES).

As I have a Polish driving license I couldn’t help it, but I have to go to the court – there is no other option in that case.

I have applied for a permanent residence using EEA-3 form on 13 of June 2010 and got it on 01 of Sept 201 (date on the document - Residence Documentation is 25 of Aug 2010). Of course I have mentioned that I have had the speeding issue (Magistrate Court) described above. So, it was not even a year after the event and I get my Residence Documents. Now I am going to apply for a British Citizenship (I got the rest of it – like exam Life in the UK passed first time, etc.).

Question:
If I apply for a British Citizenship using Form AN – how this will end?
Will I get a British Citizenship or most likely it will be rejected on the occasion and the issue described above?

If more details are needed – please do not hesitate to ask.

Hope somebody can help me.....

[stevewool]

i am suprized you were not banned, doing over 100mph i thought was automatic ban

[Alvin88]

I think that if you are doing this for the very first time you will have some 'luck' or 'handicap' - call it what you wish.

Or maybe something else is the case?

[Englishman2010]

Hi Alvin, welcome to the forum. I can't help on your questions about British Citizenship, but I'm assuming that as an EU citizen it would be fairly straight forward.
However, my concern is your speeding offence. No direspect meant to you, but in the UK the national speed limit is 70 MPH. It is 70 MPH for a very good reason - it is considered the safe maximum speed on public highways. The UK has one of the lowest casualty/fatality per driver ratio's in the world and the majority of the public would like to keep it that way.
If your excessive speed had resulted in an accident where you were Ok but you had killed 3 or 4 other motorists, how would you feel about that? Speed kills and offenders should be punished. 100 MPH on any road is dangerous, not only to yourself, but more importantly to other innocent motorists.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti cars, I've owned a couple of Italian supercars capable of speeds close to 300 km/h, but there is a time and place for driving at those speeds.......a local race track, not a public highway.
I'm sorry for my rant, but please treat the UK roads with respect and stick to our speed limits.:)

[Terpe]

You must give details of all civil judgments which have resulted in a court order being made against you. If you have been declared bankrupt at any time you should give details of the bankruptcy proceedings. (Your application is unlikely to succeed if you are an undischarged bankrupt).
You do not need to give details of family law proceedings such as divorce decrees dissolved civil partnerships, guardianship orders, parental responsibility orders.

You must give details of all criminal convictions both within and outside the United Kingdom. These include road traffic offences. Fixed penalty notices will not normally be taken in to account, unless you have had more than one fixed penalty notice in the last 12 months. In that case you may wish to wait to make your application until you
have no more than one fixed penalty notice in the 12 month period before applying.Drink driving offences must be declared. If you have any endorsements on your driving licence you must provide the paper counterpart.
Please note that a driving conviction may not yet be spent despite any penalty points being removed from your driving licence.Source:-
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/nationality/guide_an.pdf

Please do read and understand it.

[Alvin88]

Hi,

I get your point, but ......

My offence is described as - in the paper which i have received from the Court - the Magistrate Court:
Date: 24 November 2009
>> Speeding – exceed 70 mph motorway limit - manned equipment <<.
Licence or counterparts endorsed with 6 points.


There is nowhere mentioned that i was doing 103.1 (apart from the piece of paper which policeman gave me, and a photo copy is attached to the summons).

The reason for Magistrate Court is as follows: at that time I haven't got a British driving license, so there is no way for me to pay the fine, I have to go to Magistrate Court.

Question: Does it clasyfy as a crime? I don't think so, but i might be wrong.....

[Arthur Little]

Question: Does it clasyfy as a crime? I don't think so, but i might be wrong.....

Alvin ... not being a lawyer, I'm in no position to answer your question. :NoNo: But for sure, it's an offence - of which you have been convicted - and therefore must be declared.

[Alvin88]

It is me again and my problem with getting a British citizenship........

Well, i have done some research and here are the findings:

I have sent an e-mail to couple of Law Companies – e-mail like the one which started this thread:

First:
Answer from an Immigration Agency - they claim that they deal with the matter of all categories of UK visas and work permits and naturalisation on daily basis:

On an initial assessment, as your driving offence was committed over a year ago, and you have paid the fine etc, I do feel that it will be fine to submit an application for citizenship and that it will be approved. Your case worker here will double check this though, and will let you know if she has any concerns in this regard prior to submission of the application.

Second:
They claim that they have nearly 20 years of experience in all aspects of UK immigration law

As a general rule and, from my experience, an application for naturalisation is likely to be refused where there is an unspent conviction, even for minor offences. However every case needs to be considered on its merits. We have succeeded in obtaining naturalisation for clients with far more serious previous convictions in the past.

Two others done over the phone:
We don’t see a problem here – should be fine to apply and get it.

Test the water and apply via NCS – they say there is no chance for get a British citizenship.

My own phone call to Home Office --> 0845 010 5200 - option 2, then option 3 – there is no chance they said ….

Well, right now I am confused – why the lawyers said there is a chance, and some others – there is not?

Maybe, just maybe there is some truth in the old saying that some immigrants get it, start working for the Home Office, and now they are going to do whatever they can to make some difficulties for the others?

Of course, I am going to mention it - there is no doubt about that, hence the whole thread.

[keithAngel]

If it where me I would apply and see what happens speeding is not a hanging offence:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

Alvin88,
Why not do as has been suggested and just apply??

Look, your chances of getting the same clearcut answers from legal experts will always be low. Not many 'experts' agree with each other. Besides they want to always put some other meanings to rules that allow some different interpretations.

The application form tells you how to be compliant.