Summons for not producing driving licence

alias123

I have to go to court next monday ,I have appealed a summons for 1. not producing 2. not having a license. When I got the summons a few weeks ago ,I had completly forgot about being stopped. I had been in the hard shoulder when shouldn't have been ,paid the 75 fine for this . I then produced my driving license and forgot all about it. The other point in this is the summons arrived to my house ,but with the wrong surname. I choose to still go ahead and appeal (not sure I done the right thing ,if I ignored possibly wouyld have not have had to do anything). So , I have appealed ,have a current driving license. I dont know what to expect in court ? Does anyone have expericence in this kind of situation? Should I try speak to the guard before hand?

Victor

Get yourself proper legasl advice - pay a solicitor 100-200 euros to appear for you, especially because you don't know what to do.

alias123 wrote:

I have to go to court next monday ,I have appealed a summons for 1. not producing 2. not having a license. When I got the summons a few weeks ago ,I had completly forgot about being stopped. I had been in the hard shoulder when shouldn't have been ,paid the 75 fine for this . I then produced my driving license and forgot all about it.

I understand fromt he motor board that the usual thing in this case is to get a copy of the log entry from the station where the licence was presented. Was the 75 euro paid at a station?

The other point in this is the summons arrived to my house ,but with the wrong surname.

Have you changed your name? Is it a mere spelling error? Potentially, the summons gets reissued with the correct name.

Should I try speak to the guard before hand?

It can be useful, but talk to solicitor first.

Sully

I was stopped in Wexford once, and asked to produce mine. Didnt have it with me, so I said id drop it into my station in Tramore - he made a comment "You have done this before then I take it?" and I said "No." and he just laughed. Anyway, iv a provesional license with a cert of competence to say iv done my test and passed.

When I presented it, he only copied the license and said Thanks and nothing else. Always did wonder why A) he never copied the cert and give me proof that I handed it in.

Like in the OPs case - he presented it, but no proof. Now they are gonna take him to court over it!

alias123

Thanks for replies. It may be best in some cases to get solicitor ,but I think I should be ok ,fact is I do have licence .I got some advice from the gards on the phone,I think it may be a common occurance for paperwork to be lost and have this kind of case. According to them 9/10 times it will be struck out. I'll take my chances ,rather than lining some solicitor pockets with cash for what should be straight forward. (fingers crossed)

precedents

Only new to this site, legal professional, the very fact that the Summons was delivered with the wrong surname means it will be struck out. Any mis-spelling means the summons is legally not a summons addressed to the accused. All one would have to say is "no-one of that name lives at the address where the summons was served". District Court Rules ! Also if it was sent to that address you need 21 days notice of the court date and if the Garda personally served you, which is not the case because the name is wrong, you need 7 days notice.

alias123

I was in court ,had to apply for an extentsion because the appeal I made ,when I eventually got all paper work back into summons office ,it was not within 14 days of originally looking for the appeal.So The judge looked at the documents ,I held up my driving licence and mentioned my acual name was diff to summmons ,basically he told me to try get eveidence of producing my licence in the garda station . Now i have to wait for next court date.. I thought he might save their time and my own and strick it out ,but no ,have to show up in court again. What a country.

mick.fr

Yeah I think this is a complete waste of time and money for the tax payer to have to go to court just because you were driving in the hard shoulder and not having you driving license with you that specific day.

Then you came to the Garda station to procude your driving license.
So this should have ended here.

In many other countries, cops when they stop you, they will give a buz to the station to check if you have an active driving license, so even if you do not have it with you, you will be fine (You are supposed to have one anyway with you all time).

Lilke if you get fined, the tax office will send you you a bill, and then if you dont pay within 30 days, they just taxe the money from your bank account directly.