How much is a speeding fine?

Most drivers get the fixed penalty: £100 and 3 points. In court the fine is a percentage of weekly income, from 25 per cent in band A to 175 per cent in band C, capped at £1,000 or £2,500 on a motorway.

Will I be offered a speed awareness course?

It depends on the speed and on the force. The NPCC table gives a window for each limit, and outside it a course is not offered. Inside it the offer is still a discretion, and anybody who has taken a course in the previous three years is not eligible.

Is 10 per cent plus 2 a legal allowance?

No. It describes the NPCC enforcement threshold, which is guidance to chief officers rather than law, and it reproduces the published table exactly at all six limits. Nothing stops a force prosecuting a speed below it, and the limit itself is the limit.

Does pleading guilty reduce the penalty?

It reduces the fine. It does not touch a disqualification: the reduction guideline applies to the substantive sentence and says in terms that it has no impact on ancillary orders, which includes a driving ban.

Speeding

What a speeding fine actually costs

Enter the limit, the recorded speed and your weekly income. The band, points and fine follow.

What would this speed cost?

Band, points and fine range from the Sentencing Council guideline, with the enforcement thresholds the police actually work to.

Speed limitRecorded speedmphThe speed on the notice, which is what the device recorded rather than what your speedometer showed.Weekly income after tax£Net of tax and national insurance. Leave at zero to see the fine as a percentage instead.

£500

Band B starting point

Sentencing bandThe band a magistrates' court would start from.: Band B
Likely disposalFrom the NPCC enforcement table, which is guidance to chief officers rather than law.: Speed awareness course may be offered
Points if convicted: 4 to 6 points
Or a disqualificationThe court chooses between points and a ban in bands B and C.: Disqualify 7 to 28 days
Fine starting point100 per cent of relevant weekly income.: £500
Fine range75 to 125 per cent of relevant weekly income.: £375 to £625

How this was worked out

Assumptions

The guideline covers England and Wales and applies to offenders aged 18 and over.
Relevant weekly income is net of tax and national insurance. An income at or below £120 a week is deemed to be £120, and a court with no information at all assumes £440.
The fine is capped at £1,000, or £2,500 on a motorway.

Caveats

41mph in a 30mph limit sits in band B of the Sentencing Council grid.
A speed awareness course is normally offered between 35mph and 42mph here, and this speed is inside that window. The offer is the force's decision, and it is unavailable to anybody who took a course in the previous three years.
The fine is capped at £1,000, and at £2,500 where the offence was on a motorway.
A guilty plea reduces the fine but never a disqualification.
A course is offered at the force's discretion and is unavailable to anybody who took one in the previous three years.

What does this guide cover? Two separate documents decide it. The Sentencing Council guideline sets the sentence if the case reaches a court, as a percentage of your weekly income. The NPCC enforcement table decides whether it goes there at all, or ends as a course or a fixed penalty.

£100

Fixed penalty, plus 3 points

GOV.UK, Speeding penalties (as of 7 September 2026)

£1,000

Statutory maximum fine

legislation.gov.uk, Sentencing Act 2020, section 122: the standard scale of fines for summary offences (as of 1 December 2020)

£2,500

Statutory maximum, motorway

legislation.gov.uk, Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Schedule 2: prosecution and punishment of offences (as of 7 September 2026)

The guideline grid: which band a speed falls in

Sentencing Council speeding guideline: recorded speed by speed limit
Speed limit	Band A	Band B	Band C
20 mph	21 to 30	31 to 40	41 and above
30 mph	31 to 40	41 to 50	51 and above
40 mph	41 to 55	56 to 65	66 and above
50 mph	51 to 65	66 to 75	76 and above
60 mph	61 to 80	81 to 90	91 and above
70 mph	71 to 90	91 to 100	101 and above

What each band carries

Fine, points and disqualification by band
Band	Starting point	Range	Points or ban
Band A	50%	25% to 75%	3 points
Band B	100%	75% to 125%	Disqualify 7 to 28 days, or 4 to 6 points
Band C	150%	125% to 175%	Disqualify 7 to 56 days, or 6 points

Percentages are of relevant weekly income, net of tax and national insurance. Band A starts at 50% and band C at 150%.

The enforcement thresholds

NPCC enforcement and course thresholds by speed limit
Limit	Device tolerance	Course window	Court from
20 mph	22 mph	24 to 31 mph	35 mph
30 mph	32 mph	35 to 42 mph	50 mph
40 mph	42 mph	46 to 53 mph	66 mph
50 mph	52 mph	57 to 64 mph	76 mph
60 mph	62 mph	68 to 75 mph	86 mph
70 mph	73 mph	79 to 86 mph	96 mph

What the guideline says that most coverage does not

The guideline covers England and Wales and applies to offenders aged 18 and over. Scotland has its own prosecution system and its own fine levels, so a Scottish case is not decided by this table.
The court must endorse the licence in every band and may disqualify in any of them. Where it does not disqualify it imposes 3 to 6 points. In band B the choice is a 7 to 28 day disqualification or 4 to 6 points; in band C it is 7 to 56 days or 6 points.
Where a driver is grossly in excess of the limit the guideline tells the court to consider a disqualification longer than 56 days, so the band C range is a floor rather than a ceiling.
The fine is set as a percentage of relevant weekly income: band A starts at 50 per cent within a 25 to 75 per cent range, band B at 100 per cent within 75 to 125, band C at 150 per cent within 125 to 175.
Relevant weekly income is net of tax and national insurance. Where an offender is on state benefits, or nets £120 a week or less, the court deems the income to be £120. Where the court has no information at all it assumes £440. Tax credits, housing benefit and child benefit are left out of the calculation.
The fine is capped at £1,000, which is level 3 on the standard scale, and at £2,500 on a motorway, which is level 4. The motorway figure is higher because a motorway case is prosecuted under section 17(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 rather than section 89(1).
The fixed penalty is £100 and 3 points. That is the disposal most drivers actually receive, and it is not a sentence handed down by a court, so the income bands do not touch it.
A guilty plea reduces the fine but does not touch a disqualification. The reduction guideline applies to the substantive sentence only and says so in terms.
The NPCC enforcement thresholds are guidance to chief officers, not law. Nothing in them stops a force prosecuting a speed below the threshold, and every chief constable may set local policy. Treat the course window as what usually happens, not as an entitlement.
A speed awareness course is offered at the discretion of the force. A driver who has attended one in the previous three years is not eligible, and there is no automatic right to one however small the excess.
Type approved devices are allowed a positive error of 2mph, or 3 per cent above 66mph, which is where the device tolerance column comes from. It is a measurement allowance, not a permitted margin over the limit.

Common questions

How much is a speeding fine?: Most drivers get the fixed penalty: £100 and 3 points. In court the fine is a percentage of weekly income, from 25 per cent in band A to 175 per cent in band C, capped at £1,000 or £2,500 on a motorway.
Will I be offered a speed awareness course?: It depends on the speed and on the force. The NPCC table gives a window for each limit, and outside it a course is not offered. Inside it the offer is still a discretion, and anybody who has taken a course in the previous three years is not eligible.
Is 10 per cent plus 2 a legal allowance?: No. It describes the NPCC enforcement threshold, which is guidance to chief officers rather than law, and it reproduces the published table exactly at all six limits. Nothing stops a force prosecuting a speed below it, and the limit itself is the limit.
Does pleading guilty reduce the penalty?: It reduces the fine. It does not touch a disqualification: the reduction guideline applies to the substantive sentence and says in terms that it has no impact on ancillary orders, which includes a driving ban.