It has been fairly-well documented that fines for speeding have been more in line with the culprit’s income – BUT it is now very evident that it applies to those guilty of drink-driving too.
You might have seen the £86,000 fine imposed on Anthony McPartlin (of “Ant and Dec” for those of you who have lived in a cave for the last 20 years!).
His weekly income was calculated at £130,000 and the court felt that £86k was appropriate. It leads to the argument as to why the same offence costs him that amount – but an unemployed driver a tenner?
The reason is simple. That of deterrent. If Ant had been given a fine of a few hundred pounds like we might expect to receive, what financial motivation would it be not to do it again? The fine has to “hurt” to make it a worthwhile deterrent. Very similar to health and safety breaches where a company with a multi-billion pound turn-over will get a fine in the millions.
And for those who receive speeding tickets but decide to agree with their spouse to give their details instead to reduce the fine imposed or stop the withdrawal of a driver’s licence then remember former MP Chris Huhne and his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce who were BOTH imprisoned for perverting the course of justice for doing just that.
Seems like Mr McPartlin has just endured his own “Bushtucker Trial” and, for him at least, his fine might be just as unpalatable as a mouthful of pigs’ testicles…
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