Anyone ever write an letter to get out of a fine etc and succeed?

brendansmith · 01-03-2010 10:45am #1

I got a tram fine and wrote a big letter?

Hope I win

bonerm · 01-03-2010 10:46am

You won't if Brendan Smith is your real name.

seanybiker · 01-03-2010 10:47am

yeah sure. It starts off with your name. Then you right down a certain number. Write who its going to and sign the bottom of it. I think you need to draw a line on the back of it to make it work. Heard loads of people who do that and it works for them.

Doop · 01-03-2010 10:48am

I have it on realiable information theres many a tram inspector lurking around here!

Wrote a letter to get out of a clamp fine once, worked a treat! worth a shot..
However I know a fair few people who did it after getting a tram fine... not so much luck .

Armin_Tamzarian · 01-03-2010 10:52am

Just put a bullet into the envelope with the letter.
At the end of the letter put

P.S. If you don't cancel this fine the next bullet you receive will be travelling alot faster.

homerun_homer · 01-03-2010 10:52am

I won when I argued back in an e-mail after receiving a fine for not dumping my rubbish in the allocated bins in the apartment complex I was in at the time.
The fine letter had a picture showing my name on a bill, found after they sifted through how many rubbish bags to find one with a name. I wrote back with photo evidence showing how the other residents dumped all the rubbish on the ground before the bins were full, making it impossible to get to a bin to put our own bags in properly. All I could do was throw the bag as far as I could into the pile.
Never heard anything back after that so I presume I won.

AnonoBoy · 01-03-2010 11:24am

When you're trying to weasel your way out of a fine always write your letter in pencil or crayon, it makes you seem more pathetic.

This makes them feel bad for taking money off you as they start to suspect that maybe you're slightly socially maladjusted. A few crayolas short of the full box perhaps. A few melons short of a fruit salad. A few crankshafts short of the full engine. etc. etc.

And as we all know, weasling your way out of things is important to learn, it's what seperates us from the animals - except for the weasel.

pickarooney · 01-03-2010 11:27am

My girlfriend did once, for parking in a bus stop (d'oh!). She basically said she was too poower to afford it and they knocked 90% off it.

Run_to_da_hills · 01-03-2010 11:30am

Not so easy to get away with it now with most fines going through the pulse system particularly RTA.

I got out of a public order offense a few ears ago when I gave the fingers to two cop unintentionally when stuck in traffic. They wouldn't let me out of an awkward parking spot and then beeped their horn aggressively at me. They said that "I would hear about this", I wrote an apology to them and never heard about it again.

inforfun · 01-03-2010 11:37am

Got an invitation to appear in court, tv license related, a few years ago.
Wrote a letter and received a letter back that the decision was made not to bring evidence towards me.

Apparently i am also quite capable of talking myself out of traffic related fines.

Dancor · 01-03-2010 12:04pm

I wrote to my local TD

Sully · 01-03-2010 12:19pm

I gave Treavor Sargent a shout. Failed.

irishhigh · 01-03-2010 12:31pm

brendansmith wrote: »

I got a tram fine and wrote a big letter?

Hope I win

Yeah, when I was 18 I only paid the bus driver the fare for a few stops when really I was going into town. The inspector came on and saw my ticket and that we where now nearly in the city centre so I got fined. I wrote to them saying It was my first year in college in Dublin and I didn't understand the fares (My ares I didn't!) and got away with it:D

connundrum · 01-03-2010 1:15pm

I got a speeding fine from Spain a few weeks ago, well at least I think it was a speeding fine.

Either that, or I won €120 for driving so well.

Dunno what to do with it as there was 4 people insured to drive it at the time, but the car was hired in my name so the fine went to me. Might write a big letter explaining all this in Irish and see where we go from there.

recylingbin · 01-03-2010 1:17pm

Sully wrote: »

I gave Treavor Sargent a shout. Failed.

BOOYAH!

My name is URL · 01-03-2010 1:25pm

I was fined €80 after a call-credit reciept was found on a beach.. they traced the top-up number on it to find out who had used it

I tried to get out of it by saying that they had no proof it was me that discarded it

Still ended up paying the fine though

Spore · 01-03-2010 1:31pm

Draw a picture of a spider and mail it to them. It's been known to work

recylingbin · 01-03-2010 1:37pm

Spore wrote: »

Draw a picture of a spider and mail it to them. It's been known to work

Brilliant.

Mahatma coat · 01-03-2010 3:09pm

My name is URL wrote: »

I was fined €80 after a call-credit reciept was found on a beach.. they traced the top-up number on it to find out who had used it

I tried to get out of it by saying that they had no proof it was me that discarded it

Still ended up paying the fine though

Seriously???????

they can do that:eek:

brendansmith · 01-03-2010 10:52pm

Mahatma coat wrote: »

Seriously???????

they can do that:eek:

Hey Mahatma, I know that you have gotten out of fines! What did you do?

Terry · 01-03-2010 10:59pm

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Just put a bullet into the envelope with the letter.
At the end of the letter put

P.S. If you don't cancel this fine the next bullet you receive will be travelling alot faster.

Swift post?

pickarooney wrote: »

My girlfriend did once, for parking in a bus stop (d'oh!). She basically said she was too poower to afford it and they knocked 90% off it.

But she can afford a car and insurance?
The court system fails again.

Armin_Tamzarian · 01-03-2010 11:05pm

Terry wrote: »

Swift post?

Indeed

n0brain3r · 01-03-2010 11:11pm

I got a parking fine in Naas once and got it dismissed by writing to the town hall and saying the warden was too keen and by the time I got change and returned with the parking ticket he was gone and my car had been ticketed. The old man got away with one too he stuck an envelope in a bin in Dun Laoghaire and a got fine in the post for dumping domestic rubbish in a public place they quashed it when he replied something along the line of I live in Wicklow at place of outstanding natural beauty and more illegal dumps than I can count why would I drive to Dun Laoghaire to dump my rubbish! I suppose they realised the stupidity of it.:p

Mike 1972 · 01-03-2010 11:14pm

Got a "fixed penelty notice" once for no road tax.

Thing is the reason I had no road tax was because they wouldnt issue with a tax disc without an MOT certificate which I (along with half of Northern Ireland at the time) couldnt get because the MOT test centres centres were on strike.

I wrote them a b0ll1cking letter pointing out that if they were anyways competent they could have established this themselves by virtue of the fact that my records would have shown that I had applied for an MOT test appoinment two months before either MOT or Road tax were due. I told them there was no :mad::mad::mad::mad:ing way I was paying their "fine" and indeed unless I recieved a written apology within 14 days for attempting to extort money with menaces there was no way was I going to pay the road tax arrears either.

I didnt get the written apology although I didnt get a summons for not paying the "fixed penelty" either so technically it amounted to draw.

n0brain3r wrote: »

he stuck an envelope in a bin in Dun Laoghaire and a got fine in the post for dumping domestic rubbish in a public place

Could one get someone they didnt like framed on a charge of illegal dumping simply by putting their name and address on an envelope ?

brendansmith · 01-03-2010 11:51pm

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Could one get someone they didnt like framed on a charge of illegal dumping simply by putting their name and address on an envelope ?

Interesting. :cool:

n0brain3r · 01-03-2010 11:58pm

There was a show on RTE a few weeks back it was a repeat as I'd seen it before I don't remember the name and they followed a Litter Warden around Cork. He routed through rubbish bags somewhere for something with an address an issued a fine so I'd say it's well possible and judging by what happend to the old man I'm guessing someone stuffed a bag of rubbish in the bin and he stuck the envelope on top so they must do this all the time.

marvsins · 02-03-2010 12:29am

I was building my house back in '05, county council sent out letter for the contribution lights, water, paths etc. as i'm up a boreen just off the road sent back my letter saved myself a few grand. I was delighted with myself.

pooch90 · 02-03-2010 12:30am

n0brain3r wrote: »

I got a parking fine in Naas once and got it dismissed by writing to the town hall and saying the warden was too keen and by the time I got change and returned with the parking ticket he was gone and my car had been ticketed.

I tried that too, even got a parking ticket on my way back to the car as I spotted the fine sitting on the windscreen. Stormed up to town hall and presented them with fine and ticket (issued two minutes later) but b*stards refused to let me off. They stated that if I had been parked in a car park instead of on-street they would have given me 10 minutes leeway. F***ers!!

Sharpshooter · 02-03-2010 2:23am

brendansmith wrote: »

Hey Mahatma, I know that you have gotten out of fines! What did you do?

He would be very silly to answer that.

brendansmith · 02-03-2010 2:31am

Sharpshooter wrote: »

He would be very silly to answer that.

Psssssst Hey Mahatma, PM me!

The anti-fun nazi police are on our tail!!

You can get away with more in Government than boards.ie

Sharpshooter · 02-03-2010 2:44am

brendansmith wrote: »

Psssssst Hey Mahatma, PM me!

The anti-fun nazi police are on our tail!!

You can get away with more in Government than boards.ie

Thank you .;)

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 02-03-2010 2:50am

I got out of a parking fine before because I couldn't see the double yellow lines with the snow
I knew bloody well they were there but I saw my chance and I took it god damn it!

A man in my locality refused to pay a dangerous driving fine because a 'well respected business man' was up before him with a very very similar charge, and also had a fantastic way with words and got off.
My neighbour wouldn't be so fortunate with his elecutionary skills but felt himslf hard doneby and told the judge there and then that he wouldn't be paying this fine and kicked up a fuss. He was sent to mountjoy for a few days, consisted of a taxi ride up with two Garda, on arrival they learned there was no room for him so they had to let him go. They couldnt go back with him for legal reasons, not being in custody etc. So he requested money for a taxi (to mayo) which he got, and also money for a dinner. He then called the wife and she drove up, they spent the night in a nice hotel, had a good dinner (a good ride I will presume) and drove back the next day felling that justice had been done.

Doc · 02-03-2010 3:02am

Silly boy, I’ve gotten out of 2 tram fines now using my Irish accent and claming either that I had just arrived in the country or was just leaving. When asked where I was staying I just gave the name of a backpackers and If they asked what room I was staying in said the dormitory. They let me go one time without a fine and the other time he took my name and the name of the backpackers I said I was staying in but probably did nothing as I said I was leaving that evening.

One time in London I got on one of the bendy busses and forgot to swipe on with my oyster card.
An inspector came on and checked my card which obviously hadn’t been validated. I said that I had tried to validate it but that my student card must have interfered with it (this actually happens as my student card used the same technology as the oyster making it think you are swiping two cards at once I had noticed it happening a couple of times previously). The guy said that he would be reporting my case and took my details.

I forgot about it until about a month later I received a letter saying I would have to pay a fine now (It was something like 200 pounds) or be taken to court and have to pay a larger fine and possible legal costs. I read up on the conditions that I could be excused for having not paid and one of them was that if I had made an attempt to pay but there was a failure on the part of the technology. So I wrote a letter explaining that my student card had interfered with the machine and so it did not take the money off.

I forgot about it again until about a month later when I received a court summons! I read through the summons which included a statement from the inspector. In it he basically made out that he asked me why I had done it and that I just said “I’m sorry” this was a blatant lie as I had said that my student card must have interfered with the thing.

The summons also indicated that I could still pay a fine now to stop it going to court.

I decided to return the summons and plead not guilty as the guy who had inspected my ticket had blatantly lied in his statement and I had previously sent the later explaining exactly what I had said on the bus.
One of the sections in the summons asked me if I wised to dispute the evidence given by the witness (the inspector) which would require him to be present. I said yes to this. 2 weeks later I got another letter saying that they would not be perusing the case.

There must be so many people who just accept the initial fine even if they don’t think they deserve it just because they are scared that they may lose and have to pay more. Id say they drop the majority of cases where people actually contest it as its not worth the hassle and only go forward with a minority of cases to try and make examples of people.

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 02-03-2010 3:09am

Doc wrote: »

Silly boy, I’ve gotten out of 2 tram fines now using my Irish accent and claming either that I had just arrived in the country or was just leaving. When asked where I was staying I just gave the name of a backpackers and If they asked what room I was staying in said the dormitory. They let me go one time without a fine and the other time he took my name and the name of the backpackers I said I was staying in but probably did nothing as I said I was leaving that evening.

One time in London I got on one of the bendy busses and forgot to swipe on with my oyster card.
An inspector came on and checked my card which obviously hadn’t been validated. I said that I had tried to validate it but that my student card must have interfered with it (this actually happens as my student card used the same technology as the oyster making it think you are swiping two cards at once I had noticed it happening a couple of times previously). The guy said that he would be reporting my case and took my details.

I forgot about it until about a month later I received a letter saying I would have to pay a fine now (It was something like 200 pounds) or be taken to court and have to pay a larger fine and possible legal costs. I read up on the conditions that I could be excused for having not paid and one of them was that if I had made an attempt to pay but there was a failure on the part of the technology. So I wrote a letter explaining that my student card had interfered with the machine and so it did not take the money off.

I forgot about it again until about a month later when I received a court summons! I read through the summons which included a statement from the inspector. In it he basically made out that he asked me why I had done it and that I just said “I’m sorry” this was a blatant lie as I had said that my student card must have interfered with the thing.

The summons also indicated that I could still pay a fine now to stop it going to court.

I decided to return the summons and plead not guilty as the guy who had inspected my ticket had blatantly lied in his statement and I had previously sent the later explaining exactly what I had said on the bus.
One of the sections in the summons asked me if I wised to dispute the evidence given by the witness (the inspector) which would require him to be present. I said yes to this. 2 weeks later I got another letter saying that they would not be perusing the case.

There must be so many people who just accept the initial fine even if they don’t think they deserve it just because they are scared that they may lose and have to pay more. Id say they drop the majority of cases where people actually contest it as its not worth the hassle and only go forward with a minority of cases to try and make examples of people.

You in Melbourne??

You'd wanna be a sucker to buy tickets there, worst case scenario 'whats the phone number of someone you're living with so I can confirm your adress?'
'ok here you go....'
Give him the address of California Club

brendansmith · 02-03-2010 3:11am

Doc wrote: »

There must be so many people who just accept the initial fine even if they don’t think they deserve it just because they are scared that they may lose and have to pay more. Id say they drop the majority of cases where people actually contest it as its not worth the hassle and only go forward with a minority of cases to try and make examples of people.

Thats what i reckon. They couldnt be bothered with the hassle because the money dosnt go directly to that person.

Doc · 02-03-2010 3:13am

Sophia Wide Sextet wrote: »

You in Melbourne??

You'd wanna be a sucker to buy tickets there, worst case scenario 'whats the phone number of someone you're living with so I can confirm your adress?'
'ok here you go....'
Give him the address of California Club

Yep!

marvsins · 03-03-2010 12:31am

Got away with a parking fine in cork city. I had wifes engagement ring with me (to be cleaned). As he was typing away i took it out to explain i was proposing, oh how i lol'd !!:)

Anyone ever write an letter to get out of a fine etc and succeed?

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