HELP - Stopped by Gardai, What can I do ?

cop41

Hi all,

I am looking for as much information as I can get, so I am very grateful for any help from boards users...
I was stopped at a Garda checkpoint and the Garda noticed I had no NCT on my car.
I imported the car back in September from the UK, but havent got around to sorting out the NCT. Garda said I will get 5 points on my license, a court summonce, fined, and the car is off the road ...

Is there anything I can do ? I have booked the car into the NCT today.

If the case goes to court I presume I will need a solicitor..

Does your insurance increase dramatically with 5 points ?

I have been driving for years and I have never had any trouble with the Gardai. No points etc...

Are there any ways around this ? Or anything I should do ?

Thanks in advance

Atomic Pineapple

i've only ever heard of fines for having no nct, up to €1500, never heard of points or summons or the car being taken off anyone.

craichoe

Must be a new thing, i got stopped twice, once with the NCT 6 months out of date and the next time 8 months out ...

Nothing was said at all

Mr. Presentable

http://www.dun-laoghaire.com/points.html

Mandatory court appearance, 5 points. Ouch!

eringobragh

HMM No points as of yet for that offence.

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

I'd trust the above over dun-laoghaire.com

What age are you BTW?? Yes its relevant!

pele10

I thought originally it was an offence not have your NCT vlid, however the revenue was complaining that CAR tax was down because you needed valid NCT to get taxed, so it was no longer illegal not to have NCT.

I am not sure, however I dont think its a 5 points penalty.

Stephen

I thought the only 5-pointer was driving without insurance.

Omcd

Is the Garda implying that, because the car does not have an NCT, you might be driving a defective vehicle ?

GHGW

5 points and court sounds mad I could understand if your car was a POS but I have no NCT the car was a UK import I registered it for the NCT which you have to do yourself then requested a test and heard nothing.

6 months later I tried again and they sent the letter to the wrong address even though I told them the new one and asked them to text me which is the ususal process so I now have a 01 car with no NCT its pristine and I spend a fortune keeping it that way Im about to change the tyres this weekend and apply again for NCT of course they will try charge me for missing the appointment last time even though they sent the confirmation letter to the wrong address.

So if I was stopped by the gardai and they ask I will say i have tried twice but got no appointment because its an import and I have to do this myself each time, but Im trying to get it sorted. I have used this excuse twice before and had no problems, I would get in contact with the garda that told you all this and ask him where he got his info from also if you have any legal buddies ask them is he liable for making unfair claims etc and drop that one when your on the phone I would say he will be ****ting in his little black hat at that stage if not ask him who his commanding officer is and can he transfer you to him. Insurance companies just apply a 2500 euro excess in the case of a car with no NCT being involved in an accident they dont void your insurance so it cant be that offence and if your car was in good mechanical order then the defective car charge also doesnt apply so its just a fine!!

You werent drunk also were you ?? LoL

DublinDilbert

Firstly, welcome to the forum....

To be honest it sounds like he is being very harsh, is it a heavily modified car? or is there something else your not telling us?

If the car is a UK import does it have a valid MOT? although this is Ireland, if you have to go to court you could say that this proves that the vehicle is road worthy / safe to drive.

cop41

Thanks for the replies everyone...

I am a middle aged man in my late 40's ... I am driving a 2002 Jaguar X-Type.

My car has no modifications and it is certainly not what one could refer to as a BOY RACER car...

I have the car fully taxed & fully insured.

To answer "GHGW" question : No I was not drunk. I was on my way to work this morning at 7:45am ...

I have a valid MOT for the car which was only done 2weeks before I purchasing it so it is still valid today.

The car has no faults whatsoever and is in pristine condition I love after it extremely well so it is definitely not a defective vehicle.

The Gardai were Traffic Corp Gardai .

I am just back from the NCT centre. I had to register the car there so they will have it on their system.. Now I must call them up and book a date. The nearest date my centre has is 25th March... (This means I cannot drive my car until after this date...)

Thanks for all the support guys, I am still in Shock myself

Anan1

OP - To be honest, I think the Guard was just trying to give you a fright. I'd be surprised if you hear any more about it. Just get the car NCTd as soon as possible (I know you're trying to!), and don't worry about driving it in the meantime.:)

GHGW

Sorry I didnt mean to offend with the Drunk question was just attempting to be funny.

I would drive it and just keep the letter or text message showing when you have been called forward for NCT at hand once it arrives.

I agree I think they are trying to scare you and you wont hear a thing from them. If you only had the car in Ireland for a few weeks then how could you have possibly got the NCT done especially when you have to go register the car yourself at the NCT office and wait for an appointment for a few weeks.

I just dont get why the Gardai are coming down heavy on someone with a well kept car only in the country a few weeks without NCT. You would think they had better things to be doing with their time. I could undersatnd insurance but even if you had no Tax for a week or two after importing you think they would understand, doesnt it take a few weeks to get a VLR cert in order to tax also. Sounds like scare mongering to me.

R

pete4130

nipplenuts wrote: »

http://www.dun-laoghaire.com/points.html

Mandatory court appearance, 5 points. Ouch!

If you look at that link you'll see the no NCT offence ISN'T highlighted in bold so isn't yet a currently active penalty point offence. That coupled with everything else being ligit (tax, insurance MOT etc...) I'd be confident you're ok. Ring up the RSA to donfirm to be on the safe side of things.
Bit of scaremongering I think by our ever so professional police force.

breadmond

I imported a car last summer and got caught with no NCT. The Guard gave me a month to produce it but while I was looking around the internet I found out that you have 12 months to get an NCT for a newly registered car. I never produced anything and nothing has ever happened over it so I recon the Guard was just trying to scare you.

shanel23

Quick one - is there a difference in the treatment by the Gardai for

A. No NCT cert displayed at all - on 4+ yrs old cars

or

B an out of date NCT cert ?

cheers

galwaytt

cop41 wrote: »

I am just back from the NCT centre. I had to register the car there so they will have it on their system.. Now I must call them up and book a date. The nearest date my centre has is 25th March... (This means I cannot drive my car until after this date...)

Thanks for all the support guys, I am still in Shock myself

chill, cop41, chill........

Once you're car is booked for NCT, you can drive it. Your car currently as an EU-valid roadworthiness test (MOT), and you have booking for your NCT. There is no reason to NOT drive your car. If you like, keep your booking slip, and your UK MOT in the car, for production at the next asking.

Furthermore, I'd go, very nicely to the Garda in question, and show him the booking slip and MOT. As the NCT vehicle database is currently.....4-5 months OUT OF DATE - there is no way you could have got a booking for an NCT any sooner.

If that doesn't work, and it goes to court, make sure your solicitor informs the court of all of the above.

BTW - the NCT used to automatically contact you when you reg'd an import, once it was 4+ yrs old, to advise you needed a test. I don't know when that stopped. I would however, strongly suspect that since it's a commercial outfit, they saw fit to save a few €€€ and let the motorist carry the can.

What a shock, eh?:rolleyes:

At least CoCo send you a reminder for your tax........

Anan1

I think we all need to remember that our Gardai have a long and proud history of issuing threats/lectures in place of tickets. I, for one, wouldn't change a thing.;)

mick.fr

If the car has a valid MOT then you have nothing to worry about.
NCT, MOT, Technical control etc..are EU valid.

Get a NCT before your current MOT expires though.

Although you atually go to court if your car has not NCT, but if the Gardai did his job, you will see the judge but your case will be overturned.
My opinion, I am not a sollicitor though...

Earth Worm Jim

That guard was talking sh1t - trying to frighten you;)

Your mot will cover the car fore the;) court appearance - just make sure you have it (NCT) done before the court date and laugh at the guard when its fcuked on of court (not in the courtroom though);)

Blitzkrieger

Are you sure your car is due for a NCT? Afaik the procedure with imports more than four years old is that the NCT is due on the anniversary of first registration in the country of origin. If the car was first registered in England in January 2002 and you registered it here in Febuary 2008, it's not due until January 2009.

Atomic Pineapple

Blitzkrieger wrote: »

Are you sure your car is due for a NCT? Afaik the procedure with imports more than four years old is that the NCT is due on the anniversary of first registration in the country of origin. If the car was first registered in England in January 2002 and you registered it here in Febuary 2008, it's not due until January 2009.

are you sure thats true? i thought you had to get an nct cert as soon as possible.

@op sounds like a thick headed garda trying to act the big man and scare you, i was stopped in my integra by the garda and the nct was 8 months out of date as i had just bought it from a garage and the nct date hadn't come up yet and nothing was said about it at all

Blitzkrieger

Not 100% sure which is why I said "afaik", but that's what the guy at the NCT centre told me. You can get it up to six months early for it's first NCT, but if the car was first registered in August, it's supposed to go for NCT in August. It helps spread the load for the NCT centres.

cabrwab

This sounds like rubbish. Do you think he was jealous?!!
I've talked to a gard about this issue before (friend of mine) cause my nct was a few months out of date, his exact words where "jaysus you would want to meet some real f*cker of a police man for them to say anything, they would want to be mad to get you over something." and he's Traffic corps.

But there is a fine of 1500, didn't think points exist yet!

yayamark

nipplenuts wrote: »

http://www.dun-laoghaire.com/points.html

Mandatory court appearance, 5 points. Ouch!

No disrespect intended for nipplenuts but that site is so wrong its laughable.

Mr. Presentable

yayamark wrote: »

No disrespect intended for nipplenuts but that site is so wrong its laughable.

Cheers! None taken

cop41

Thanks again for all the help and support during this stressful ordeal

At the moment, I have parked up the car at my house and I am using my sons car...

The NCT have given me an appointment for late March so at the moment I am playing the waiting game.

I have to ring the NCT office everyday to check if there is a cancellation and if there is I will take it so I can get this Jag. back on the road !

Awaiting Garda court summonce, heard nothing as of yet.

Thanks again guys !

cop41

HAHA I just noticed how ironic my user name is COP41 !!!

LOL

Stufinnegan

cop41, The best thing to do, is to get the car NCT'd as soon as you can. If you receive a summons, go to court, represent yourself, plead guilty and inform the judge you have taken care of all the necessary documentation. The judge will probably through the case out. I have recently had to go to court over a similar summons and once I had showed the judge that I had got my act together, she was fine. In fact she seemed annoyed that this case had got to court in the first place.