Yet another speeding / summons question

kdevitt

Rightio - got a phonecall from a friend a few minutes ago, who has been summonsed to appear in court for non payment of two speeding fines.

The person in question wasn't driving (they can't drive), their girlfriend was driving the car on both occasions, within a day of each other on the Navan Road - where the limit has been dropped to 50kph for the roadworks.

She had said she'd pay, but obviously didn't, my mate is pissed off to say the least. He's spoken to the guard in question, and they won't change the summons .
Does anybody know what is likely to happen in court?

lifebook

i went to cort for non payment of speeding fine and i just got the normal fine and points. I actually forot to pay it so once I wasnt disputing it I was fine. There was a guy however before me however who argued with the judge and guard about a similar point like yours and he got a bad old "doin"

Got 4 points and a fine in the hundreds

Fey!

If he arrives in court, point out to the judge that the garda had been informed as to who was driving the car at the time but refused to follow it through.

Also, get your friend to contact the district office in the issuing station and point out that a) he wasn't driving and b) that Garda X had been informed on such-and-such a date that Y had been driving.

Del2005

kdevitt wrote:

Rightio - got a phonecall from a friend a few minutes ago, who has been summonsed to appear in court for non payment of two speeding fines.

The person in question wasn't driving (they can't drive), their girlfriend was driving the car on both occasions, within a day of each other on the Navan Road - where the limit has been dropped to 50kph for the roadworks.

She had said she'd pay, but obviously didn't, my mate is pissed off to say the least. He's spoken to the guard in question, and they won't change the summons .
Does anybody know what is likely to happen in court?

Why did the summons not go to the girlfriend? If she was driving and the other person can't drive why is the car registered to the none driver? Also when the fine comes in the post there is a section to fill in if you aren't the dirver, why didn't the person just fill this in?

Looks like they'll have to take the fine/points. If they don't drive it won't make any difference, also their girlfriend will get away without any points so her insurance won't be affected (just get the girlfriend to pay the fine).

kdevitt

Del2005 wrote:

Why did the summons not go to the girlfriend? If she was driving and the other person can't drive why is the car registered to the none driver? Also when the fine comes in the post there is a section to fill in if you aren't the dirver, why didn't the person just fill this in?

Its his car, bought so he can learn to drive, she's named on the insurance. As I said in the initial post, she said she'd look after it...but forgot all about it.

Del2005 wrote:

Looks like they'll have to take the fine/points. If they don't drive it won't make any difference, also their girlfriend will get away without any points so her insurance won't be affected (just get the girlfriend to pay the fine).

Are you a solicitor or has this happened to you in the past?? As I said in the initial post, I'm looking for someone who knows what will happen, not guess. Theres a fairly clear photo of her driving the car, so I find it hard to believe that he can get stuck with the points.

Del2005

Hope this explains how it works. I've bolded the relevent part. From reading that your friend may get into more trouble for not naming the driver. But I'm not a solicitor or have any penalty points so I've no idea:D

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/faq.php

Q. Will penalty points be issued from fixed speed cameras?

A. Yes. Where an alleged offence is detected by a fixed speed camera, the fixed charge notice will be sent to the registered owner. There is an explicit requirement that where the registered owner of a vehicle was not driving or using the vehicle he or she must give the name, address etc of the driver of the vehicle. The Act also provides that unless another person is identified as the driver it will be assumed that the registered owner was driving the vehicle at the time of the occurrence of the alleged offence.

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Q. If my vehicle is caught by a fixed camera, what happens if I am not the person driving the vehicle?

A. The Gardai will issue the fixed charge notice to the registered owner of a vehicle in the event that the offence is detected by a fixed speed camera. The registered owner is afforded the opportunity to name the driver. Indeed, it is an explicit requirement that where the registered owner of a vehicle was not driving or using the vehicle he or she must give the name, address etc of the driver of the vehicle. On foot of receipt of this information from the registered owner, the fixed charge notice will issue to the named driver, on whose licence record the points will be endorsed, either on payment of a fixed charge or a court conviction.

Atomic Pineapple

he is responsible for letting the guards know who was driving the car at the time and if he did this and the picture clearly shows a women driving then he wont get laden with the fines or points but she will have to be summoned to court with him so that she can take the rap

kdevitt

draffodx wrote:

he is responsible for letting the guards know who was driving the car at the time and if he did this and the picture clearly shows a women driving then he wont get laden with the fines or points but she will have to be summoned to court with him so that she can take the rap

Makes sense alright - he has been into the garda station to explain the situation, and she has no problem with getting the points/fine. They won't change the summons though, guess we'll have to just wait and see what happens.

Victor

kdevitt wrote:

As I said in the initial post, I'm looking for someone who knows what will happen, not guess.

Then you either need a solicitor or someone with a crystal ball. Both charge. Neither are present in this thread.

Theres a fairly clear photo of her driving the car, so I find it hard to believe that he can get stuck with the points.

He has also committed an offence.

Its his fault for not completing and returning the paperwork.

kdevitt wrote:

Makes sense alright - he has been into the garda station to explain the situation, and she has no problem with getting the points/fine. They won't change the summons though, guess we'll have to just wait and see what happens.

A summons is a court document. A garda can't change it.

mick.fr

The solution.

1. Drive your car with a long blond "peruque" (Name in english?)



2. If you got caught with a fixed camera say this was not you driving.
3. You do not remember who was driving your car this day.

In other countries, this works, not practical tough :-)

kdevitt

Victor wrote:

Then you either need a solicitor or someone with a crystal ball. Both charge. Neither are present in this thread.He has also committed an offence.

Its his fault for not completing and returning the paperwork.A summons is a court document. A garda can't change it.

...or someone who has experienced the same thing. And since you were obviously none of these, would it have been too much for you to keep your eternal wisdom to youself?

Anyway, he's since made contact with a barrister, and surprise surprise you're wrong. The garda was within his powers to have the summons changed. Theres a phone number on the back he can ring to have a summons issued to his missus instead, and he doesn;t need to make a court appearance at all.