Penalty point system in chaos after legal ruling

Our man in Havana

I knew it would happen some day, someone finally had the balls to stand up to the system!

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1744042&issue_id=15024

THE entire penalty points system has been thrown into chaos by a landmark legal ruling.

Scores of convictions for not paying speeding fines have been thrown out of court after drivers successfully argued they never got the original notices, the Irish Independent has learned.

It means any motorist can claim they never got the fixed fine notice, and escape getting points.

Fixed penalty points notices are sent out by ordinary post, not by registered mail. Drivers who argued that they did not get the notice said that the first they heard about the matter was when they got summonses to the district courts, where they received penalty points.

However, in the Circuit Court yesterday, over 40 drivers successfully appealed their convictions. Lawyers representing some of them argued that the fact they never got the initial notice meant that the cases were prejudiced.

Portlaoise contractor William Prior, who fought the system and won, yesterday called for it to be overhauled. He insisted that he never got the initial fixed penalty points notice.

"This is an eye-opener for everyone. I never got the initial notice. I was brought to the district court and was fined €250 and got four penalty points," he said.

"There is a terrible breakdown somewhere in the system. I wasn't even driving on the day," he said.

Almost €80m has been collected from drivers in fines for road traffic offences over the last three years. Justice Department figures released this week revealed the value of fines is set to double this year to around €15m in total.

Around 60pc of all district court cases relate to road traffic offences, including speeding, but there are a significant number of appeals because people claim they did not receive the original fixed charge notice or because they claim they were not driving the vehicle at the time.

The Road Traffic Act says that in a prosecution for a fixed charge offence, it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that the relevant notice has been served or caused to be served to the drivers concerned.

Where a fixed charge notice for an offence is issued at a later date, service of the notice is by ordinary post.

Where evidence on oath is tendered to a court that a fixed charge notice has not been served, it is up to an individual district court judge to decide whether that presumption has been rebutted.

Lawyers who specialise in road traffic offences say the failure to serve notice in an appropriate fashion could lead to a judicial review of the entire notice process.

Treacy Hogan and Dearbhail McDonald

Looks like there can be no more sending notices by ordinary post.

Drax

Bond-007 wrote:

Looks like there can be no more sending notices by ordinary post.

Should have been using registered post from the start. Once there is the slightest chance of a weak point in the system,. you can bet someone will use it to fight against any convictions (and in this case...win!).

Sizzler

Savage !

spockety

yes, this is great news for speeders everywhere! Rejoice!!

:rolleyes:

Kimbot

Well it was bound to happen!!! You think they would learn after all these years!!

mike65

No one learns anything in this country until a judge makes a ruling.

Mike.

Kimbot

Even at that the governement should not let loop-holes lay in their laws.... instead of rushing them throught they should go through them properly!!

The Indo

The Indo wrote:

Almost €80m has been collected from drivers in fines for road traffic offences over the last three years. Justice Department figures released this week revealed the value of fines is set to double this year to around €15m in total.

I think :rolleyes: is required.

MercMad

I think the whole idea of threatening to double your points in Court is totally wrong. Increase the fine, to reduce Court costs and time wasters is fine, but doubling points is just not right !

I have points and I recieved them without even being in the car !! There was no way I was risking challenging it in Court !

is_that_so

Gotta love the Indo tabloid choice of words. I actually expected to read about real chaos. The whole court thing is dubious IMO and a legal mind I consulted concurred. But like MercMad I couldn't afford to risk the court route and took the two points.

Wishbone Ash

MercMad wrote:

I think the whole idea of threatening to double your points in Court is totally wrong

AFAIK the points received via court are the standard penalty - you get a 'discount' by agreeing to not go to court.

Blitzkrieger

However you word it, you get punished for trying to defend yourself if the judge finds you guilty.

maidhc

Wishbone Ash wrote:

AFAIK the points received via court are the standard penalty - you get a 'discount' by agreeing to not go to court.

Still, it's word play.

It wouldn't work for anything more serious that a speeding offence!