Summons

oho_noho

I was stopped by the gardai 3 times over the past 14 months for road traffic offences. I'm up in court next month. However i'm still waiting to be summonsed for the other two incidents. Waiting to find out if i'm going to be summonsed for the other two times is horrible, so today i rang the regional Gardai Headquarters to see if i could find out if any summons were waiting to be served. The Garda who i spoke to checked her computer and said that no record of any summons or fines in my name were on the system. I have a few questions - what system was she checking
- When a garda applies for a summons does it automatically go on this system
- I know that a garda has six months to apply for the summons after the date i was stopped, if after 6 months there is no mention of my summons or my being stopped on the system does this mean i'm not going to be summonsed? (kind of the same question as above)

She told me that i was unlikely to be summonsed if i hadn't received anything yet. However the summons for my court date arrived nearly 14 months after the original incident (with the wrong name on the summons)

Tom Young

Did you read the forum charter?

oho_noho

Whats the problem?

Tom Young

The problem is you're seeking advice, as far as I can see.

Use the thread search and you'll find this topic has been dealt with. Rely on nothing without consulting with a solicitor.

oho_noho

I'm seeking information on how Gardai process summonses and on the system that is used. I just want to know if i am going to be summonsed.
As far as i can see there is no thread about the system the gardai use to log summonses. I already have a solicitor.

poss

oho_noho wrote: »

I'm seeking information on how Gardai process summonses and on the system that is used. I just want to know if i am going to be summonsed.
As far as i can see there is no thread about the system the gardai use to log summonses. I already have a solicitor.

Check this section of the forum, there's a rake of threads/information on summones, you need to have a look.

You're asking a question about information thats already here.

John5

oho_noho wrote: »

I was stopped by the gardai 3 times over the past 14 months for road traffic offences. I'm up in court next month. However i'm still waiting to be summonsed for the other two incidents. Waiting to find out if i'm going to be summonsed for the other two times is horrible, so today i rang the regional Gardai Headquarters to see if i could find out if any summons were waiting to be served. The Garda who i spoke to checked her computer and said that no record of any summons or fines in my name were on the system. I have a few questions - what system was she checking
- When a garda applies for a summons does it automatically go on this system
- I know that a garda has six months to apply for the summons after the date i was stopped, if after 6 months there is no mention of my summons or my being stopped on the system does this mean i'm not going to be summonsed? (kind of the same question as above)

She told me that i was unlikely to be summonsed if i hadn't received anything yet. However the summons for my court date arrived nearly 14 months after the original incident (with the wrong name on the summons)

You will be summoned for the other two incidents roughly a year from the date they occurred.

oho_noho

Right i've read through a lot of the other posts on here about summonses, but i still can't find any information on the issue of whether i can find out if after six months a summons has been issued without having to wait for the summons to arrive at my door.
Somebody mentioned ringing local district court after the six months but that was then contradicted.
Surely there is a way to find out after the six month deadline whether the summons has been issued by the prosecuting garda

Jo King

The prosecuting garda does not issue the summons. He applies for the summons and the court clerk issues it, although in some a judge issues it. If there is a six month limit applicable for the offence, and no application is made for a summons then that is probably the end of the matter. Not all offences have a six month limit and it is a matter to be raised in defence if a summons is applied for after six months. The application for summons is recorded on the Pulse system and gardai can check the system to see if an application has been made for a summons. The Pulse system is not completely foolproof and there can be no guarantees that the information supplied is accurate in every case.

John5

oho_noho wrote: »

Right i've read through a lot of the other posts on here about summonses, but i still can't find any information on the issue of whether i can find out if after six months a summons has been issued without having to wait for the summons to arrive at my door.
Somebody mentioned ringing local district court after the six months but that was then contradicted.
Surely there is a way to find out after the six month deadline whether the summons has been issued by the prosecuting garda

You'll have to wait to see.

As i say, if you are summoned you'll recieve them a year or so after the offences occurred. You'll probably receive it by registered post, so you'll get it three weeks before the court date.

If you hear nothing a couple of weeks after the yearly date, then you'll probably be okay, you may not be summoned.

Don't forget if the Gardai in either of the other two cases doesn't apply for the summones within the six months allowed to do so, then you're in the clear. Although it will be a worrying wait, i'm sorry to say.

oho_noho

I suppose i could approach the Garda who stopped me, after the 6 months, and find out if she has applied for a summons.
Or i could ring the court clerk and try to find out if they have received an application from the Gardai.

John5

oho_noho wrote: »

I suppose i could approach the Garda who stopped me, after the 6 months, and find out if she has applied for a summons.
Or i could ring the court clerk and try to find out if they have received an application from the Gardai.

You won't get the information from the court clerk, they won't know.

As for approaching the Gardai, i don't know if they would have to let you know? Anyway, i wouldn't go reminding the Gardai about it, if you've heard nothing about it, leave it be, let sleeping dogs lie, you may not be summoned at all so don't hang yourself.

poss

oho_noho wrote: »

I was stopped by the gardai 3 times over the past 14 months for road traffic offences. I'm up in court next month. However i'm still waiting to be summonsed for the other two incidents. Waiting to find out if i'm going to be summonsed for the other two times is horrible, so today i rang the regional Gardai Headquarters to see if i could find out if any summons were waiting to be served. The Garda who i spoke to checked her computer and said that no record of any summons or fines in my name were on the system. I have a few questions - what system was she checking
- When a garda applies for a summons does it automatically go on this system
- I know that a garda has six months to apply for the summons after the date i was stopped, if after 6 months there is no mention of my summons or my being stopped on the system does this mean i'm not going to be summonsed? (kind of the same question as above)

She told me that i was unlikely to be summonsed if i hadn't received anything yet. However the summons for my court date arrived nearly 14 months after the original incident (with the wrong name on the summons)

Question.

If you got your initial summons a year or 14 months after the first offence, would you not realise that your other two summones would be arriving somewhere around the same time-frame after those two offences occurred?

oho_noho

I'm not wondering when i'm going to be summonsed, i want to know if i'm going to be summonsed. I suppose i'll just have to wait and see.

John5

oho_noho wrote: »

I'm not wondering when i'm going to be summonsed, i want to know if i'm going to be summonsed. I suppose i'll just have to wait and see.

You'll have to just wait and see what happens, it's going to be worrying waiting to see if you recieve a summons or not.

As i say, the court clerk won't be able to tell you, and there's so many cases in the system, we're talking at least a year from when those offences occurred.

Also, i wouldn't let this rule your life, even if you're obviously worried about it, just go with the flow over the course of the year.

Stainless_Steel

oho_noho wrote: »

IHowever the summons for my court date arrived nearly 14 months after the original incident (with the wrong name on the summons)

:eek: I won't give you advice on how to handle the wrong name part as others will shoot me down.

When I hear of wrong details being on a summons it really annoys me. Sure everybody is human and makes mistake, but not everybody can issue a demand for you to be in a certain place and a certain time.

poss

oho_noho wrote: »

However i'm still waiting to be summonsed for the other two incidents. Waiting to find out if i'm going to be summonsed for the other two times is horrible

Believe me, my brother knows how horrible a feeling that is, at first.

He got arrested three months ago, i won't go into what happened, but i know by him he was genuinely worried about it. He wasn't charged, but he has had to keep the incident from some family, all of his friends and work colleagues.

He got legal advice, and as it's his first offence he'll probably be warned, if he's summoned.

Also, allied to this, he may not be summoned, but he's got to wait until at least next June or July to find out.

I've told him to go with the flow, which to his credit he's doing. He'll be allright.

It's important you don't let this get to you, you can't let it take over your life for months.

leitrim lad

heres a similar question for those in the know , a neighbour of mine is a devil for getting in trouble for very minor things ,but they are still against the law no matter how minor they are ,things like not displaying , tax, and so on,

but say the summons was delivered to the wrong house and the person in the wrtong house returned it to the local garda station, and the person who it was intended for never knew about it, and then a warrent was issued for him for not turning up in court , how would that work,

i always taught it had to be delivered in person and they had to touch you whilst handing iot to you, or has this changed.

tis very interesting, but if he had anysence he wouldnt be drawing attention to himself , i would be glad to hear the ins and outs on this thanks

John5

leitrim lad wrote: »

but say the summons was delivered to the wrong house and the person in the wrtong house returned it to the local garda station, and the person who it was intended for never knew about it, and then a warrent was issued for him for not turning up in court , how would that work,

i always taught it had to be delivered in person and they had to touch you whilst handing iot to you, or has this changed.

tis very interesting, but if he had anysence he wouldnt be drawing attention to himself , i would be glad to hear the ins and outs on this thanks

I do think it's unlikely that a summons would be delivered to the wrong house, because as far as i'm aware, the Gardai would be making sure that they have the correct details after or at the time they intercepeted or arrested you.

Also, if your neighbour had it, apart from being embarassing for you, surely they'd either put in your letterbox or return it to the Gardai station. Even if it was returned to the Gardai station, the Gardai could re-apply for another summons to be delivered to the correct address.

By the way, a summons doesn't always have to be delivered to you in person. You can recieve it by registered post, usually three weeks before your court date.

Also, even more embarassingly, if the Gardai know where you work, the summons can be delivered to your work-place.

Also, i don't know if a warrant would actually be issued for you, if the Gardai already knew there was an error in the processing of the summons, you'd probably just receive a re-issue of the summons corrected at a later date.

leitrim lad

John5 wrote: »

I do think it's unlikely that a summons would be delivered to the wrong house, because as far as i'm aware, the Gardai would be making sure that they have the correct details after or at the time they intercepeted or arrested you.

Also, if your neighbour had it, apart from being embarassing for you, surely they'd either put in your letterbox or return it to the Gardai station. Even if it was returned to the Gardai station, the Gardai could re-apply for another summons to be delivered to the correct address.

By the way, a summons doesn't always have to be delivered to you in person. You can recieve it by registered post, usually three weeks before your court date.

Also, even more embarassingly, if the Gardai know where you work, the summons can be delivered to your work-place.

Also, i don't know if a warrant would actually be issued for you, if the Gardai already knew there was an error in the processing of the summons, you'd probably just receive a re-issue of the summons corrected at a later date.

thanks for the info, i was just a bit confused ,this fella has his own address, but the summons was delivered to his sisters house, so she returned it to the local garda station,

he can be hard to locate at the best of times, i rang him one day and he claimed to be in italy collecting a cattle trailer for a lorry, 2minutes later he drove past me on the road at mullingar,

but a warrent was issued for his arrest ,and yet he never actually got a summons

Reloc8

Warrant for non appearance is quite common even where somebody may not have gotten the summons. Basically its issued and served at the address which (in an RTA situation) has either been given by the driver to the gard, or where the vehicle is registered, which is the driver's gig to ensure that that is correct. There's nothing 'wrong' as such with the warrant, presuming that it has been served at the right address, although practices vary in different courts around the country and eh your mileage may vary.

14 month delay in receiving a summons is not uncommon and again not 'wrong' unless the summons was not applied for within 6 months of the offence in question (for the less serious offences. The more serious stuff - indictable - has no time limit for application). The summons will state the date of the application on it.

And yes there is no way of knowing whether one has been applied for or not until it has been served or attempted to be served.

John5

Coler wrote: »

14 month delay in receiving a summons is not uncommon and again not 'wrong' unless the summons was not applied for within 6 months of the offence in question (for the less serious offences. The more serious stuff - indictable - has no time limit for application). The summons will state the date of the application on it.

And yes there is no way of knowing whether one has been applied for or not until it has been served or attempted to be served.

I know it's the system, but this does make me believe the law is an ass.

As the thread starter said, to be wondering about when or if you'll recieve a summons is horrible. But to be waiting the best part of a year to 14 months is ridiculous, and it's even more ridiculous to be waiting for that time-frame and then realising that you're not going to recieve one.