Central Ticket Office and Traffic Offences

On this page:

• About the Central Ticket Office
• Notice of Intended Prosecution 
• Retraining Offers
• Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty
• Evidence
• National Highways variable speed camera anomaly *December 2025
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Useful Contacts

About the Central Ticket Office

At West Midlands Police, we’re committed to making our roads safer for everyone. One of the ways we do this is by identifying and addressing traffic offences that occur across our policing area.

These offences may be detected by roadside cameras or reported directly by police officers. The Central Ticket Office plays a key role in processing these incidents.

If you've received correspondence from us, it may relate to a traffic offence and could include documents such as:

• Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)
• Offer of a Driver Retraining Course
• Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty

These are the most common types of communication we send, and they outline the next steps available to you.

Notice of Intended Prosecution 

The paperwork that the Central Ticket Office issue is a combined Notice of Intended Prosecution/s172 request – commonly abbreviated as NIP. 

There are a few offences, where if you have not been stopped and spoken to by an officer, we would issue a NIP.  This NIP would be issued to the Registered Keeper within 14 days of the alleged offence. 

Note:  there is no requirement for a NIP to be issued within 14 days to any subsequently nominated driver/business.  This means that if you are NOT the Registered Keeper, you may receive your NIP past the 14 days. 

Registered Keeper details are taken from the DVLA.  It is the Registered Keeper’s responsibility to ensure that these are up to date. 

Your NIP must be fully completed, signed and dated and returned to the Central Ticket Office within 28 days.  Alternatively, if your Notice Number begins ‘0203’, you can respond via our online portal. You can also use this portal to view photographs of the alleged offence.

Failure to respond to your paperwork within the time limit stated, may result in your case being forwarded to the court to be dealt with.

Retraining Offers 

This paperwork will give you the option to book yourself onto an appropriate educational course, along with details on how to do this. The police are not responsible for booking you on to an educational course – this is your own responsibility.

The course should be booked within 120 days of the offence.

If you have not been issued a Retraining Offer – then this may be due to eligibility checks that have been completed. 

The main criteria for assessing eligibility are: 

• The type of offence – some offences are not suitable for educational courses 

• The circumstances of the offence – the seriousness of the offence is considered— for example, in speeding offences, this could be how much over the speed limit you were 

• The “three-year limit” – you cannot be offered an educational course if you have already completed the same course within a three-year period. 

Failure to comply with this paperwork within the time limit stated, may result in your case being forwarded to the court to be dealt with. 

Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty

This paperwork will be issued to you, offering you the option to pay your fine and have your licence endorsed.  Some offences are non-endorsable, so the Conditional Offer paperwork will advise you to pay a fine only.

The full details on how to comply with your Conditional Offer are included in the paperwork, and must be followed with within 28 days.

Failure to comply with this paperwork within the time limit stated, may result in your case being forwarded to the court to be dealt with.

Evidence 

For notice numbers that begin “0203”, you can view the photographic evidence using our online portal.

For notice numbers that do not begin with “0203” then any evidence will only be provided should the matter ultimately end up being dealt with at court.

National Highways variable speed camera anomaly *December 2025

National Highways has confirmed an anomaly has been identified in the way some variable speed cameras interact with signs on some A roads and motorways. This has resulted in a very small number of people incorrectly facing enforcement action for speeding.  

Find out more read the guidance on the National Highways variable speed camera anomaly webpage.

Frequently Asked Questions 

If you want to find out more, or you still have questions or queries please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us.

Read our FAQs

Useful Contacts