The issue of when a prosecution could lawfully commence for a person issued with a fixed penalty notice (FPN) was considered recently in the case of R (Michli) v Westminster Magistrates Court [2024] EWHC 559 (Admin)
The Court was asked to consider when the Crown Prosecution Service were time barred from beginning a prosecution after a member of the public was given the opportunity of accepting a fixed penalty notice. The Court were asked to consider the question “Does time run from the decision to offer the FPN, or at the expiry of the period for payment of that FPN?”
The Administrative Court made the following decision “…the evidence was not sufficient to justify a prosecution until it was known whether the claimant would pay the fixed penalty. If he did, a prosecution would not be justified. Indeed, it would not even be permitted. If he did not pay, even if he made his refusal to pay clear from the outset (which, in this case, it seems he did not), a prosecution could still not be brought until expiry of the 28 days. The evidence justifying a prosecution could not be complete until it was known that there had been a failure to pay the Fixed Penalty Notice sum within the 28 day period allowed.”
