summons to court

thenightrider

Has any one ever got a summons to court there was one sent to my mam and dads house today for me saying i had no insurance last summer but i did have insurance and still do and im 110 % sure i had it displeaed in my car window i was never told to produse my insuranse only to show my license before as i did not have it in the car which i did show it on time etc

What happens now its unfair being done for something im 110% sure i had im ment to be going on holiday the day they want me to go to court im going up the wall not noing what can be done

Berty

Call the Garda whom made the allegation. It was probably an error and easily sorted.

Bring in your proof of Insurance. A policy is not proof enough because you can easily buy Insurance, get a policy and cert, cancel it and never post back the details.

Ask the insurance company or broker for evidence you had insurance on the date of the allegation and present this to the Garda for the case to be removed against you.

thenightrider

Just got of the phone to the insuranse company they are going to send me out a leter stateing that i was insured on the date in question and said they can fax over anything the garda need

Just need to wait for the garda to be on duty and try and get to talk to him hope it can be sorted with out haveing to go in to court

HPT

AFAIK if you've already got a summons then it's out of the Guard's hands already. The summons is sent out by the courts, not the guards. The guards only deliver them.

You will need to go to court. If you can speak to the Guard in question and if he/she accepts that you were covered on that day the best you can hope for is that the guard will ask for a strikeout. If that happens then you're off the hook.

If you don't show and the guard doesn't ask for the offence to be stricken out you will most likely be convicted in your absence.
If you do go, and it's not stuck out you'll have the chance to show your proof to the guard who'll most likely accept it.

You could still be convicted for failing to produce if you have a summons for that too.

TheNog

Make sure you go to court regardless if it is being struck out or not on your behalf. Too many people think a summons is a "We request the pleasure of your attendance to court on this date but only if you remember it and if you the time".

A summons is an order so if you are not there the judge may not take kindly to it. Any conviction for no insurance means disqualification and for you have that decision reversed you need to the Circuit Court which means a solicitor and big costs involved.

thenightrider

HPT wrote: »

You could still be convicted for failing to produce if you have a summons for that too.

On the summons it does not say anything about failing to produce so i take it i should be ok means im going to have to see if i can change the date of my flight to go on holiday my girlfriend isnt ging to be happy :mad:

How can you get a summons for no insurense if they dont stop you pull you over etc as i have never even parked any were near were they say

damo150

That is some load....:eek: Go to the gaurd that ordered the summons and give him a good goin over coz he made the mistake and he should fix it. tell hm that you will be missing your holiday because of him and his mistake...:mad:

XJR

thenightrider wrote: »

Just got of the phone to the insuranse company they are going to send me out a leter stateing that i was insured on the date in question and said they can fax over anything the garda need

Just need to wait for the garda to be on duty and try and get to talk to him hope it can be sorted with out haveing to go in to court

A letter real or faxed will be no use to you at all. The only document that will be any use at all is your certificate of insurance that covered the date in question. Assuming you were insured at the time your insurance company should be able to provide a copy.

thenightrider

XJR wrote: »

A letter real or faxed will be no use to you at all. The only document that will be any use at all is your certificate of insurance that covered the date in question. Assuming you were insured at the time your insurance company should be able to provide a copy.

I have my certificate of insurance for last year so that covers me for that day and any other day

thenightrider

damo150 wrote: »

That is some load....:eek: Go to the gaurd that ordered the summons and give him a good goin over coz he made the mistake and he should fix it. tell hm that you will be missing your holiday because of him and his mistake...:mad:

Belive me i want to rely kick up but i dont think freaking out at a garda is going to do me much good im waiting for the gara to call me back now according to the insurance company people get summon's all the time and have no idea why they get them and do be on to them. I wonder if its true and if so how can so many mistakes be made

drunkmonkey

thenightrider wrote: »

I have my certificate of insurance for last year so that covers me for that day and any other day

that's all you need, turn up for court with all your original insurance documents and driving licence...
If you don't turn up it gets very messy, you will proably be disqualified from driving and loose your licence...
And whatever you do, don't call the Garda involved and give him a good going over as OP suggested....

Big Nasty

Are you sure the summons is not for 'failing to display insurance' cert on your car as opposed to 'not having insurance' at all?

thenightrider

Ok it turns out they sent me out 2 summon's

1 For not having insurance

2 Not produceing with in 10 day's

But i was never asked to produse and i did have insuranse


One more thing they spelled my name wrong and sent it to an address i havent lived at for over 5 year's and my car is reg'ed to my new address everything for it come's to were i live now

Anan1

I've gone to court on my gf's behalf before and the judge was fine with it. I'm not advising you to send someone in on the day with your proof of insurance, but it may well save you a lot of hassle. How about calling the Garda whose name is on the summons, explaining the situation, and asking them whether it'd be OK to send someone else in. They're pretty reasonable in my experience, once they see you're trying to do the right thing.

BeardyGit

FFS. This is simple. Here's the drill and I'm sure TheNog will agree with the following if he's here?:

1. Carry your license with you, always, to save yourself this kind of sheite.
2. Get the letter from the insurance. Photocopy it and leave a copy in the station for the Garda.
3. Go to court on the day and at the time stated in the summons.
4. Try to speak with the prosecuting Garda in advance, to show your paperwork was in order, unless you got hold of them in the station before.
5. Present yourself when called by the court.
6. The Garda will either ask the judge to dismiss the charge with something along the lines of "I'm satisfied all Mr. X's particulars were in order your honour", or he'll be an arse.
7. The judge will summarily dismiss the charges or ask to see your paperwork.
8. Hand it over. Apologise for being an arse and not carrying your license with you as required by law.
9. Take a verbal wrist slap, thank the court and go home.
10. Carry your license in future.

stealthyspeeder

drunkmonkey wrote: »

that's all you need, turn up for court with all your original insurance documents and driving licence...
If you don't turn up it gets very messy, you will proably be disqualified from driving and loose your licence...
And whatever you do, don't call the Garda involved and give him a good going over as OP suggested....

Definately agree with going to court and getting it sorted out, should be simple enough.

But the amount of inconvenience this has caused you is unacceptable, maybe its technically not the individual guards fault due to the address change but if an individual is in charge of that much power (the power to cost you hundreds in flight changes to your holiday, by demanding you produce documents and demanding you appear in court, to prove something you know you ar innocent of) they should have the common sense/responsibility to ensure that you are fully aware of the demand being place upon you. I would have a go at the guard and give him an earful, not in a peronally insulting way or tone but along the lines of what I have just mentioned. At the end of the day they are there to protect and serve (some are very good at it and some are "getting there") and this incident (if what you say is true) has protected nobody, caused you inconvience, cost me (the taxpayer) money, and served no other purpose than an example of beaurocracy gone wrong.

Mr. Incognito

FFS. This is simple. Here's the drill and I'm sure TheNog will agree with the following if he's here?:

1. Carry your license with you, always, to save yourself this kind of sheite.
2. Get the letter from the insurance. Photocopy it and leave a copy in the station for the Garda.
3. Go to court on the day and at the time stated in the summons.
4. Try to speak with the prosecuting Garda in advance, to show your paperwork was in order, unless you got hold of them in the station before.
5. Present yourself when called by the court.
6. The Garda will either ask the judge to dismiss the charge with something along the lines of "I'm satisfied all Mr. X's particulars were in order your honour", or he'll be an arse.
7. The judge will summarily dismiss the charges or ask to see your paperwork.
8. Hand it over. Apologise for being an arse and not carrying your license with you as required by law.
9. Take a verbal wrist slap, thank the court and go home.
10. Carry your license in future.

Did you even read the OP's posts or the thread. This has nothing to do with a licence? A summons turned up out of the blue for INSURANCE.

Anan1

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Did you even read the OP's posts or the thread. This has nothing to do with a licence? A summons turned up out of the blue for INSURANCE.

I think you need to read Gil_Dub's post again.

drunkmonkey

Don't go hell for leather a the garda, he knows what's happend, he's just following the process. I'm guessing at some point op was asked to produce his licence and insurance at a garda station, he didn't. now we have a waste of taxpayers money, hardly the gardas fault....

Turn up for court, don't bother with a solicitor and just be on time with all your ducks in a row...

has this already went to court in your adsence before, is this the first summons....

stealthyspeeder

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Don't go hell for leather a the garda, he knows what's happend, he's just following the process. I'm guessing at some point op was asked to produce his licence and insurance at a garda station, he didn't. now we have a waste of taxpayers money, hardly the gardas fault....

This is true, but if the guard put in a little extra effort im sure he could have contacted the OP, meaning he would be aware of the accusation against him and the OP could have shown the guard the documents (which by he way, the OP says he is more than sure were displayed on his car). This would have prevented both your tax and my tax paying for this incident! So its not his fault technically because of the system but he could have prevented it! If what the OP says about having the tax displayed is true, then this is a disgrace and the guard should be disiplined for this waste of tax payers money, and the disttruption to the OP!

As for Gil Dubs points, point 8 is insulting given the situation, and point 9 is bang out of order! The guards do a good job a lot of the time, but if they get it wrong, we should not accept their word a gospel and go round licking up to them as this breeds complacency and leads to future incidents which in turn undermines the good and sometimes heroic work of other guards.

why does everyone keep saying to turn up for court? i think OP is looking for a solution that doesn't ruin his holiday.

Mena

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

As for Gil Dubs points, point 8 is insulting given the situation, and point 9 is bang out of order! The guards do a good job a lot of the time, but if they get it wrong, we should not accept their word a gospel and go round licking up to them as this breeds complacency and leads to future incidents which in turn undermines the good and sometimes heroic work of other guards.

I thought Point 8 was spot on, seeing as how the OP didn't have his license on him in the first place.

thenightrider wrote:

only to show my license before as i did not have it in the car

Deleted User wrote: »

why does everyone keep saying to turn up for court? i think OP is looking for a solution that doesn't ruin his holiday.

Because he is now legally obliged to do so, as he was summonsed.

Anan1

Deleted User wrote: »

why does everyone keep saying to turn up for court? i think OP is looking for a solution that doesn't ruin his holiday.

+1, this was the idea behind my post too.

BeardyGit

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

This is true, but if the guard put in a little extra effort im sure he could have contacted the OP, meaning he would be aware of the accusation against him and the OP could have shown the guard the documents (which by he way, the OP says he is more than sure were displayed on his car). This would have prevented both your tax and my tax paying for this incident! So its not his fault technically because of the system but he could have prevented it! If what the OP says about having the tax displayed is true, then this is a disgrace and the guard should be disiplined for this waste of tax payers money, and the disttruption to the OP!

As for Gil Dubs points, point 8 is insulting given the situation, and point 9 is bang out of order! The guards do a good job a lot of the time, but if they get it wrong, we should not accept their word a gospel and go round licking up to them as this breeds complacency and leads to future incidents which in turn undermines the good and sometimes heroic work of other guards.

How exactly is point 8 insulting? The OP didn't have his license with him. That's how this whole thing kicked off for him in the first place. If he'd simply brought it with him, the way you and I and everyone else driving on the road is supposed to, he wouldn't have had the administrative error related to producing the insurance to deal with. Simple fact is that he can carry points or say sorry for not doing what he's supposed to have done in the first place. Insulting....bloody hell :rolleyes:

As for 9, it's far from bang out of order. He says sorry, shows he's a nice guy and gets told off for not having his license with him. What the hell is wrong with that?

Hobart

You can get somebody to appear there on your behalf, like a solicitor. Yes the summons is an order for you to appear, but if you speak to the Guard beforehand, get the relevant documentation and produce it to the Guard, you should be ok. You may get a fine in your absence for failure to produce, but if you have insurance, I would wager that the Guard/Judge might get this one struck out aswell.

Hobart

Gil_Dub wrote: »

How exactly is point 8 insulting? The OP didn't have his license with him. That's how this whole thing kicked off for him in the first place. If he'd simply brought it with him, the way you and I and everyone else driving on the road is supposed to, he wouldn't have had the administrative error related to producing the insurance to deal with. Simple fact is that he can carry points or say sorry for not doing what he's supposed to have done in the first place. Insulting....bloody hell :rolleyes:

As for 9, it's far from bang out of order. He says sorry, shows he's a nice guy and gets told off for not having his license with him. What the hell is wrong with that?

The summons is for no insurance and failure to produce insurance. Nothing got to do with his/her licence.

Mena

Mena wrote: »

Because he is now legally obliged to do so, as he was summonsed.

nice cliché boards.ie answer.

cormac_byrne

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Did you even read the OP's posts or the thread. This has nothing to do with a licence? A summons turned up out of the blue for INSURANCE.

The incident would not have happened if the Op was carrying his licence.

The problem is that OP says the Guard asked him to produce his licence,
but the Guard obviously recorded it as 'produce licence + insurance cert'.

maybe OP didn't hear Guard say '& insurance' (90%), or maybe the Guard didn't say it (10%).

It's irrelevant, fact is he now has to produce proof of insurance to avoid any further hassle.

The reason the Guard would might ask for the insurance cert (when the disk is displayed) is so they can check the policy holder name and/or named driver names to see if they match the name on the driving licence. (They might also want to see the face on the driving licence matches the driver)

Gil Dub has pretty much said it all, but to keep stealthpspeeder happy

8. Hand it over. Apologise for being an arse and not carrying your license with you as required by law.
9. Take a verbal wrist slap, thank the court and go home.

BeardyGit

There's a simple lesson here. If you're asked to produce ANYTHING, don't stop short by only producing whatever was missing on the day.

If you're going to the station to have something recorded, bring the lot. The Garda on the desk will be quite happy to record everything in the book and you'll save yourself the kind of hassle the OP's dealing with now.

Been there, done that - Half day off work to tidy up a simple error etc.

Gil

Anan1

Hobart wrote: »

The summons is for no insurance and failure to produce insurance. Nothing got to do with his/her licence.

Gil_Dub's point is that 'this kind of sheite' is less likely to happen when you carry your license. Is that really so hard to get your heads around?:)

stealthyspeeder

Mena wrote: »

I thought Point 8 was spot on, seeing as how the OP didn't have his license on him in the first place.

I think you are required to produce your license when a guard requests it, you have three days in which to produce it at a guarda station if you do not have it on you (the law obviously understands that if you carry an important document on you all the time, it may get lost, this is why it deliberately allows three days) So to "apologise for being an arse" when not breaking the law is insulting!

Point 9, thanking the court for wasting his time? come on? bang out of order. Remember these legal systems are here to protect us not to hinder us, they are not perfect so when they do not work, why lick up to them and pretend they do? show dissapiiontment and disapproval in these cases in order to get it changed and improved!

BeardyGit

Hobart wrote: »

The summons is for no insurance and failure to produce insurance. Nothing got to do with his/her licence.

The point is that if the OP had his license with him, he wouldn't have been asked to produce anything. The Garda would have looked at the license, checked the disks displayed on the windscreen and presumably have sent him on his way.

He didn't have it, which opened up this whole can of worms.

Anan1

stealthyspeeder - I agree in principle with what you've been saying. However, the OP has to decide whether the idea here is to make a (good) point or to go on holidays as booked with his GF.

BeardyGit

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

blah blah blah.....So to "apologise for being an arse" when not breaking the law is insulting!

Point 9, thanking the court for wasting his time? come on? bang out of order. ....blah blah blah

Tongue in cheek escape you much? :rolleyes:

Hobart

Gil_Dub wrote: »

The point is that if the OP had his license with him, he wouldn't have been asked to produce anything. The Garda would have looked at the license, checked the disks displayed on the windscreen and presumably have sent him on his way.

He didn't have it, which opened up this whole can of worms.

Sorry, you simply don't know that. Firstly your adding 1 + 1 and getting 5. Now, unless you are the actual guard who pulled this fella, or you have been speaking to him privately, we have no idea why this guy was pulled. No idea whatsoever.

Secondly, his OP is quite ambiguous, in that he says he was asked to produce his licence before. Now that could mean, after this specific incident, or on a previous occasion.

My point is, and this is my only point, the guy is looking for some help here. Not some barstool lesson and what should or should not be done. Your answer, while semi-comprehensive, does not actually address the issue he has on his hands today. Ok?

who007

Jeezus - Chinese whispers here! Does the quote below not imply, however grammatically incorrect, that the OP did indeed show his licence within the 10days allowed? I could be wrong (and I say that with no sarcasm!) but that's what he seems to be intimating here. Can the OP clear that bit up at least?

thenightrider wrote: »

i was never told to produse my insuranse only to show my license before as i did not have it in the car which i did show it on time etc Wh

stealthyspeeder

thenightrider wrote: »

On the summons it does not say anything about failing to produce so i take it i should be ok means im going to have to see if i can change the date of my flight to go on holiday my girlfriend isnt ging to be happy :mad:

How can you get a summons for no insurense if they dont stop you pull you over etc as i have never even parked any were near were they say

Hold on a sec, there have been a lot of post very quuickly but, there are some people saying that this issue would have been resolved if the OP had carried his license, as I understand it, he wasnt stopped, he never saw the guard, nobody asked him for his license, the guard saw a parked car and started this process, and the first the OP knows about it is the summons from court!? btw- correct me if im wrong about any of those!

And apologies for going off topic, after all my high and might legal ramblings i'd phone the station, get the guard to call you back(give out just a little!) get a soliciter to represent you, have a fantastic holiday with your girl, come back and write a letter of complaint!

Hobart

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Hold on a sec, there have been a lot of post very quuickly but, there are some people saying that this issue would have been resolved if the OP had carried his license, as I understand it, he wasnt stopped, he never saw the guard, nobody asked him for his license, the guard saw a parked car and started this process, and the first the OP knows about it is the summons from court!? btw- correct me if im wrong about any of those!

And apologies for going off topic, after all my high and might legal ramblings i'd phone the station, get the guard to call you back(give out just a little!) get a soliciter to represent you, have a fantastic holiday with your girl, come back and write a letter of complaint!

Indeed..

The op appears to have no recollection of ever being pulled as per:

How can you get a summons for no insurense if they dont stop you pull you over etc as i have never even parked any were near were they say

.

KikiDee

Anan1 wrote: »

I've gone to court on my gf's behalf before and the judge was fine with it. I'm not advising you to send someone in on the day with your proof of insurance, but it may well save you a lot of hassle. How about calling the Garda whose name is on the summons, explaining the situation, and asking them whether it'd be OK to send someone else in. They're pretty reasonable in my experience, once they see you're trying to do the right thing.

If you do decide to go on hols as planned and get someone to stand represent you in court it'll depend on the judge in question if they're going to be fine with it. Some judges (like the one Anan1 dealed with) wouldn't have a problem but others....well you just don't know.

cormac_byrne

thenightrider wrote: »

i was never told to produse my insuranse only to show my license before as i did not have it in the car which i did show it on time etc

The OP does admit to being stopped and asked to produce 'licence'.

thenightrider wrote: »

Ok it turns out they sent me out 2 summon's

1 For not having insurance

2 Not produceing with in 10 day's

But i was never asked to produse and i did have insuranse


One more thing they spelled my name wrong and sent it to an address i havent lived at for over 5 year's and my car is reg'ed to my new address everything for it come's to were i live now

And he was summonsed for not producing 'insurance'

The obvious explanation is the Guard recorded the incident as
'produce licence + insurance'

The mess has been compounded by the use of the wrong address.

OP is the address on your licence your new address or your old address.
(It's most likely a requirement to keep the address on your licence current, though I admit mine has an old address on. I should probably fix it to avoid possibility of any summonses going there)

peasant

Is there any chance the OP could actually ring / meet the clark of the court and get this sorted before the actual court date?

He obviously HAD insurance at the time of the incident (and proof thereof)and as I understand it the court summons is just the result of a misunderstanding.

Seems to be a bit of a waste of everybodies time and money to actually let this go to court proper.

stealthyspeeder

I think the OP needs to clear the details up, mainly

Were you stopped by a guard?
What does you summons say?

ToxicPaddy

I also got a summons to appear in court for not producing my insurance and tax. However I did produce them at a garda station I named and they were logged on the system. Spoke to the Garda in question and he informed me it must have been a technical fault with the system and I still have to appear in court.

Garda in question has now been moved down the country so not even sure if he is going to be in court that day and I'm going to be away on holidays for the court date. So I'm trying to find a solicitor who will be in the court that day to represent me..

Have all documentation, a letter from my insurance company showing Im insured etc but still have to be there or have a representative be there for me..

Complete pain in the a*s but the Garda in question wasnt too pushed about being helpful and fobbed me off when I eventually did get through to him..

Tox