Court Summons

Kauto

Just wondering can anyone help! I was issued with a court summons last month. I got caught on the mobile while driving. I didnt pay the fine through a genuine case of forgetting about it. Anyone got any suggestions?

SpookyDoll

Check it with a fine tooth comb, see if the date, place, reg no etc etc are correct, if you find anything amiss....bingo your off !!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

AnonoBoy

Doubtful you'll get off through a technicality. Go to the Garda station it was issued from and talk to the relevant Garda. Explain your situation. If he/she is nice they might let you away with just paying the fine.

Kauto

I was more thinking of turning up in court and saying i dint get any notification of the fine. We constantly get other peoples mail all the time as we live in an place where the estate names are alike.

Gone Drinking

I don't think that'd work to be honest.

Best bet is to go to the post office and try and pay the fine now.. they won't let you because its too late but they'll give you a receipt showing that you tried to pay it.

Take the receipt to court then and show the judge you tried to pay it and that it was just an honest mistake.

You'll probably be made pay the same amount as the fine to a charity or it might get thrown out if the guard doesn't turn up.

Something similar happened to me, i paid 75 euro to a charity on the spot and didn't even get a penalty point for it.

Skellington

Just go to court and accept the fine. I was in the same situation except I was caught speeding. Forgot about the first 80Euro fine, didn't have the cash when that got bumped up to 120Euro for not paying soon enough, and finally got a summons. The judge just fined me 75Euro, worked out cheaper than the original one. Anyone who didn't turn up in court got fined 150Euro.

XJR

Kauto wrote: »

I was more thinking of turning up in court and saying i dint get any notification of the fine. We constantly get other peoples mail all the time as we live in an place where the estate names are alike.

Before you pull a fast one I suggest you go to a court and see what sort of penalties are given to those that try it on judges aren't as stupid as people think.

Generally an admission of guilt and an apology will do more for you than trying to wriggle out of it. You'll probably pay more than the fixed notice but quite likely less than if you make some lame excuse.

SpookyDoll

Dont bother your ar$e saying you didn't get the notice, you will pi$$ off the Judge simply because its the most commonly used excuse.

Judge is more likely to look favourably on you if you dont try to Bull$hit him. Either make some sort of attempt to pay it now.

OR look for something wrong with the summons and appeal, most traffic offences that are appealed are thrown out/never heard about again due to lack of Admin muscle!

Masada

yeah i agree with the above, that excuse is well worn and the judge will be lip sincing it as you speak.,

your best bet is to turn up on the court date and tell the judge that it was a difficult time for you and money was tight, by the time you had it you couldnt pay the fine. if you say you forgot he'll give you the lecture about that being down to your own fault and you deserve it. a lot of these cases get thrown out there and then with the slightest technicallity but you'll most likely leave with having the pay the original ammount on the fine.

wasper

Kauto wrote: »

Just wondering can anyone help! I was issued with a court summons last month. I got caught on the mobile while driving. I didnt pay the fine through a genuine case of forgetting about it. Anyone got any suggestions?

Judging form your attitude on how you are trying to avoid paying the penalty, you obviously hasn't learnt a thing from the experience.
I have no sympathy for you.

fred funk }{

Post gets lost all the time thats why the Gardai are supposed to hand deliver each summons. If I was you I would tell them that you never got it.
What would you do if you genuinely never got it?

spurious

Show up and pay up.
Have you used the mobile while driving since?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Post gets lost all the time thats why the Gardai are supposed to hand deliver each summons. If I was you I would tell them that you never got it.
What would you do if you genuinely never got it?

Listening to this kind of advice will get you in more trouble.

You think that nobody thought of the "I said I never got it" one before? Or the "I never got the summons" one before? Be a good lad and own up to your mistakes. Go to court, pay your fine, and learn from your mistake. Yea?

Kauto

I think im just going to turn up in court and admit it and say i genuinely forgot to pay the fine. Hopefully will be let off with a fine under €200. I have heard the judge in this court is a particularly nasty piece of work so you never know. Do you have to pay the fine straight away after judgement?

Zulu

Kauto wrote: »

I was more thinking of turning up in court and saying i dint get any notification of the fine. We constantly get other peoples mail all the time as we live in an place where the estate names are alike.

Ah so you want to go to court and plagiarise yourself. Nice.

Well, if you want to be a dishonest liar, it's between you and the garda.
The judge will deem one of you a liar, and punish accordingly.

I hope justice is done.

Zulu

Kauto wrote: »

I think im just going to turn up in court and admit it and say i genuinely forgot to pay the fine. Hopefully will be let off with a fine under €200. I have heard the judge in this court is a particularly nasty piece of work so you never know. Do you have to pay the fine straight away after judgement?

All the more reason to be honest. Glad to see you are seeing sense.

Duiske

Kauto wrote: »

I think im just going to turn up in court and admit it and say i genuinely forgot to pay the fine. Hopefully will be let off with a fine under €200.

I think thats the right way to go tbh. Just tell the Judge that it was simply an oversight on your part, and, as a normally law abiding person, the shock of getting a summons in the post will ensure it does not happen again. Then apologise for taking up court time because of your mistake.
Just be straight with the judge, and the fine will not be that much more than the original fine. And no, the fine does not have to be paid straight away. I think 28 days is the norm. But then again, maybe you would be better pay it straight away this time ?

Wagon

Zulu wrote: »

Ah so you want to go to court and plagiarise yourself. Nice.

Well, if you want to be a dishonest liar, it's between you and the garda.
The judge will deem one of you a liar, and punish accordingly.

I hope justice is done.

Why not just delete that post?

You'll be grand OP, The judge will probably look at you favourably considering your being honest and not wasting time. He's probably got the reputation of being a bollix from people trying to push their luck all the time. Honesty is always welcome.

shellyboo

Zulu wrote: »

Ah so you want to go to court and plagiarise yourself. Nice.

Well, if you want to be a dishonest liar, it's between you and the garda.
The judge will deem one of you a liar, and punish accordingly.

I hope justice is done.

Wagon wrote: »

Why not just delete that post?

You'll be grand OP, The judge will probably look at you favourably considering your being honest and not wasting time. He's probably got the reputation of being a bollix from people trying to push their luck all the time. Honesty is always welcome.

First of all, I think he means perjure, not plagiarise...

And he has a valid point. He's just going to get himself into even deeper trouble for what is an extremely minor offense with a neglible punishment. He's far better off just telling the truth and taking his medicine.

Zulu

shellyboo wrote: »

First of all, I think he means perjure, not plagiarise...

And he has a valid point. He's just going to get himself into even deeper trouble for what is an extremely minor offense with a neglible punishment. He's far better off just telling the truth and taking his medicine.

Thanks. Perjure was exactly what I meant.

shellyboo

Zulu wrote: »

Thanks. Perjure was exactly what I meant.

Took me a while to remember the right word! But I knew plagiarise wasn't what you meant...

Powerhouse

I was in court recently on a minor traffic offence (breaking a red light).

Originally I was fined €80 and sent that off (at the last minute as per..) but in my haste neglected to put my licence number on it and it was returned to me.

I then (again at the last minute) sent it off this time with the late fine of €120 and it was returned to me saying that it was already in the court system and I could prepare myself for a summons.

Some months later a Garda turned up, handed me the summons saying "nothing too much to worry about", which was true, but I'd never been in court before (in that capacity anyway) and wasn't too comfortable with it.

Anyway, despite having two pieces of evidence that I had attempted to pay, the Judge wasn't interested in even looking at either of them. He just said - not without justification - that the dates are there for a reason.

Incidentally, in relation to the notion of getting off on a technicality, 'Blanchardstown by-pass' was written on the summons even though the offence took place on the Clonsilla Road - not a millions miles away but certainly not the same road. Though I pleaded guilty, I mentioned this in passing and the judge couldn't care less about a technicality like that.

Perhaps I could have argued on that technicality but I imagine the judge would not have been happy to accept that.

Incidentally I was fined €120 (this was a mistake by the Garda who told the judge that the late fine was €90 which is incorrect) which was the second amount I tried to pay. What a waste of everyone's time having a case like that going to court when they could have taken the money originally.

Moral of the story from my perspective is that in the case of road traffic incidents I believe it is impossible to defend oneself. I think a Garda could literally make up an offence and it'd be your word against his and no prizes for guessing who the judge will believe if push comes to shove.

Similarly with a parking ticket. How do you defend youself against one if you feel hard done by? It'd be easier defend yourself against a murder charge than these things and for that reason it is a national scandal that so many Gardaí are in court every day pursuing people for fines on trivial offences. I am not saying that people should not have consequences to their actions but there has to be a better and less wasteful way of doing it.

My advice is go to court and accept the punishment and pay up quickly. I waited to get the court fine in the post and I got it on November 13th when the fine was actually due on November 4th! What a joke!

I thought the judge said '28 days to pay' but he must have said 14 instead, but the notice when I eventually received it was threatening me with arrest and all of that unless I had paid up by 9 days earlier!

The whole experience did not fill me with assurance that justice system is efficient, fit for purpose or especially user-friendly. But I strongly advise against trying to challenge it. Like I said, go to court and accept the fine. It'll be over and done with in a few minutes.

P.S. As it happens, since you will not be under oath you cannot perjure youself in this situation but to start fibbing in such circumstances is tantamount to finding youself in a small hole and reaching for your shovel. It is likely to make a very minor situation much more awkward if the Garda and Judge put up resistance.

Zulu

the brain wasn't working at half ten.

Wagon

Zulu wrote: »

the brain wasn't working at half ten.

Neither does mine