No insurance.

wtfchinaman

I was recently stopped by the garda, and summonsed in court for

1) Not showing a licence. (Did have a licence which was non EU international, and was produced to the garda on the spot, but he did not seem to know of the Internation Driving Agreement 1940 which allows for 1 year driving with non eu international licence)
2) Not having insurance (which was true)

I am aware of the rule of not allowing legal advice to be given here.

I just want to ask:

Would getting a solicitor be wise? Or could i represent mysel in court adequately in such circumstances. (I have no legal training whatsoever) How much would the solicitor fee be roughly?

Cheers!

Reloc8

Getting a solicitor would be very wise - there is a discretion in the court to ban you from driving for 1 year, and fine you a large sum of money (standard fine is €1,000 and up to €3,000 is not unusual. Driving bans for this offence are applied in about two thirds of the cases that come to court. If you have a previous for no insurance the ban will be four years).

The Court will want to know why you were willfully driving around knowing you had no insurance. If you had some excuse you might not get disqualified. It is always easier for someone else to make this plea for you than for you to do it on your own behalf. Also engaging a good solicitor shows the court that you're taking this seriously.

Solicitor's fee will vary widely depending on the solicitor/firm. You want somebody who appears in the Court you are appearing in regularly. If its Dublin do a search in this forum there are a couple of posts which list the main criminal firms.

jenny jinks

You might well be able to get out of the charges if you are properly advised. What part of the country are you in? I work in a firm that does only civil work but I have friends who deal with criminal stuff all of the time. PM me for details.

wtfchinaman

Thanks for the fast reply. Well to be honest I did not know it was such a serious offence in this country. I am a foreigner where the rules are slightly different in terms of car insurance.

I had bought a car, and had yet to seek insurance (but was in the process of doing so, but was unfortunately caught beforehand.

However upon being stopped by the Garda and realizing how serious the offence was, i had immediately purchased insurance cover.

Reloc8

You're very much at risk in respect of a driving ban. I think you need a solicitor if being permitted to drive is important to you.

dearg lady

Do you have a link to this 1940 International Driving Agreement? I may be misunderstanding you, but did you have both your non EU licence and also teh AA international licence with you? To my knowledge you need both, stand to be corrected tho!!

I think a solicitor would definitely give you an advantage, and whatever about the licence, you were deffo in the wrong over the insurance. Might just get penalty points but do you want to risk it....?