Clamp / garda fine / court case questions

Clamped

long story but would be grateful if anybody has any insights to offer. last June I parked my car on Thomas st - OK to park there on Sundays. It being Bank hol Monday I left it there overnight and raced up to put a ticket on it at 9.10 Tues a.m. Car gone. it had been clamped (did not realise car had to be removed at 6am.) and towed so I rang the clamping co, paid the €80 fine and collected my car.
End of story (not).
A couple of months later, I received a garda fine in the post for the same offence. I should have acted at this point and contacted the gardai to appeal this fine but I didn't. I ignored it as an admin error, was getting married, changing jobs etc etc and promptly forgot all about it.
Until the night I got home from honeymoon, 2 gardai arrived at the door with a court summons for non-payment of garda fine. Court case next week. What's going to happen to me?????

Litcagral

Clamped wrote:

long story but would be grateful if anybody has any insights to offer. last June I parked my car on Thomas st - OK to park there on Sundays. It being Bank hol Monday I left it there overnight and raced up to put a ticket on it at 9.10 Tues a.m. Car gone. it had been clamped (did not realise car had to be removed at 6am.) and towed so I rang the clamping co, paid the €80 fine and collected my car.
End of story (not).
A couple of months later, I received a garda fine in the post for the same offence. I should have acted at this point and contacted the gardai to appeal this fine but I didn't. I ignored it as an admin error, was getting married, changing jobs etc etc and promptly forgot all about it.
Until the night I got home from honeymoon, 2 gardai arrived at the door with a court summons for non-payment of garda fine. Court case next week. What's going to happen to me?????

You will probably get fined a few hundred if it is a first offence of this type. Apologise sincerely to the judge when he asks if you have anything to say. The most difficult part is queueing for hours with all the skangers.

(I presume that there was no administration error. If a clamped car is not removed reasonably quickly by the owner ,the Gardai will tow it away i.e.another fine especially if it is on a clearway etc.)

mikedragon32

You have 56 days to pay a Garda parking fine. 28 days at the on-the-spot rate (€40, I think) then it goes up after that for the next 28 days (to €60). Failing that, you end up in court.

Some admin error (or a VERY long honeymoon )

If you have the receipt from the clampers, you should produce that in court. That, along with some major sucking up to the judge, apologies etc, will still get you a fine of a couple of hundred.

If you're so inclined you could see if a solicitor has anything to say. Try the legal forum.

skyhighflyer

mikedragon32 wrote:

You have 56 days to pay a Garda parking fine. 28 days at the on-the-spot rate (€40, I think) then it goes up after that for the next 28 days (to €60). Failing that, you end up in court.

Some admin error (or a VERY long honeymoon )

If you have the receipt from the clampers, you should produce that in court. That, along with some major sucking up to the judge, apologies etc, will still get you a fine of a couple of hundred.

If you're so inclined you could see if a solicitor has anything to say. Try the legal forum.

just don't act directly for legal advice as that's bannable.

Victor

What offences are you charged with? I suspect it would be a nuisance / dangerous parking thing if the Garda is involved.

I suspect you will have to say sorry, apologise, say you won't do it again, etc. and will get a fine.

Our man in Havana

Does Double jeopardy apply here? He already paid the clampers.

Victor

It would depend on how many charges are being made. It's possible he got clamped for one offence (not displaying P&D ticket) and is being summonsed for another (parking in bus lane during operative hours.).

shltter

Go to court explain what happened bring your receipt for the clamping tell the judge you tought it was an admin error as you had already paid a fine for that offence

Chances are he will dimiss it

On the other hand the Garda might not even turn up in which case they will dismiss it anyway

antoinolachtnai

Victor wrote:

It would depend on how many charges are being made. It's possible he got clamped for one offence (not displaying P&D ticket) and is being summonsed for another (parking in bus lane during operative hours.).

Mmm ... you can't get clamped for not showing a pay-and-display ticket in an operating bus lane, I don't think. Even if it were the case that he could have been charged with two offences, this would be very close to double-jeopardy.

Is it worth talking to the Garda involved, do people think? I think this is what a solicitor would do if you were to engage one.

Victor

Fair point, but you know where I'm coming from.

But until we hear back from the OP, we'll never know.

seamus

I'm guessing it was probably pay-and-display from 6am to 8ish, and a clearway after that. Clamp for no pay-and-display, and then fine for parking in a clearway.

Clamped

Had the court case on Monday. All went quite well. For the same offence the judge was giving €150 fines so I expected same. The garda tuned up unfortunately. I had tried talking to him some months back but he was unwilling/unable to drop it at that point.

I explained to judge that I had already paid a clamping fine which he took into account - got a €50 fine. not bad at all....

Our man in Havana

Fair play to ya. A good result.

Victor

What were the actual charges?