Hello, quite a long story coming up, so please stick with it:
Back in January I was pulled over for speeding in a 30mph zone. I was given a ticket, and told to produce my documents at a police station within 7 days. At this point in time, I did not have the counterpart to my driving license, as I had lost it. I told the policeman this and he said that if I went to the police station and explained this, they would fill out a form and send me a letter instead explaining what to do.
At this point, I applied for a replacement to the counterpart of my license from the DVLA. It did not turn up within 7 days, so I went to the police station to tell them this. The lady on the counter filled out the form as mentioned above, and took my ticket off me. I asked if I still needed the bit on the bottom with the address to send my fine to, but she said they had to take the whole thing as there was no way to enter me onto the fines system.
Fast forward a few weeks and I haven't received a letter, but I do now have my full replacement license. I went to the police station again to ask if I should be worried that I hadn't heard anything, as I didn't want them to double the fine when I had been more than willing to settle up quickly. She said that they must just have a backlog and I should continue to wait.
Of course I forgot all about it until today when a letter summoning me to court in July turns up. I now have to fill out a form saying if I'm going to attend, and whether I'm going to plead guilty or not. If I plead guilty, they automatically charge me £43 court costs as well as whatever penalties they want to imply for the original offence.
I can have them decide the case in my absence, but is it worth going to court to fight it? Should I contact them explaining that it should never have gone to court in the first place and I am perfectly willing to pay the original fine but they wouldn't let me? Should I plead guilty, pay the court costs, and the penalties, but also fill out this story on the Statement of Mitigation form?
Please help!