Fixed Penalty Notice
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Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were introduced in Great Britain in the 1950s to deal with minor parking offences. Originally used by police and traffic wardens, their use has extended to other public officials and authorities, as has the range of offences for which they can be used.
In recent years this has taken the form of using them to give police and public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales a realistic weapon against antisocial behaviour. They are designed to reduce paperwork on police and council officers by allowing low-level anti-social behaviour to be dealt with on the spot. Newer types of notice exist for: disorder, environmental crime, truancy and noise. Receiving a notice is not a criminal conviction, and it is not a criminal offence not to pay the fine within the specified time period, however non-payment of the ticket is dealt with in the Magistrates' Court (in England and Wales) and methods of enforcement include imprisonment.
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[edit] Penalty Notices for Parking and Motoring Offences
This was the original use for FPNs, currently continuing in Great Britain under powers provided by the Road Traffic Act 1991; in many areas this style of enforcement has been taken over from police by local authorities. Some other motoring offences (other than parking) can also be dealt with by the issue of FPNs by police, Highways Agency or local authority personnel. FPNs issued by local authority parking attendants are backed with powers to obtain payment by civil action and are defined as "Penalty Charge Notices", distinguishing them from other FPNs which are often backed with a power of criminal prosecution if the penalty is not paid; in the latter case the "fixed penalty" is sometimes designated as a "mitigated penalty" to indicate the avoidance of being prosecuted which it provides.
[edit] Penalty Notices for Disorder
Issued under Section 1-11 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 [1] for public disorder offences and costing GBP 50 or £80 (depending on the offence), they can only be issued to people over the age of 16. There are 23 offences for which a notice can be issued, such as being drunk and disorderly in a public place, selling alcohol to a minor (under 18), threatening behaviour or language and "behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to others". Recipients have 21 days to pay the notice or request a hearing.
[edit] Penalty Notice for Environmental Crime
Fixed penalty notices are available as a means for dealing with various environmental crimes. The first was introduced in 1990 for leaving litter, and since then numerous others have followed, particularly as a result of the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003, and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
The majority of these are issued by local authority officers, but police and Environment Agency officers have been authorised to issue some. The penalty ranges from £20 for unnecessary idling of a stationary vehicle engine to £500 for failing to comply with a noise warning notice in licenced premises.
By far the majority of fixed penalty notices issued for environmental crimes are for leaving litter, failing to remove dog faeces, and fly posting. The Government have determined that fly tipping is too serious to warrant a fixed penalty, and that cases should be referred to the Magistrates Court.
[edit] Penalty Notice for Truancy
Section 23 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 [2] allows local authorities, head teachers (or their deputies) and the police to issue a £50 or £100 fixed penalty notice to a parent or parents who fail to ensure that their child regularly attends school.
[edit] Penalty Notice for Night Noise
Section 2 of the Noise Act 1996 [3] allows local authorities to investigate complaints from residents about excessive noise coming from a residential dwelling during the night, defined as between the hours of 11pm and 7am.
