Parking fine - was not me! What to do?

Kersh

What should I do here? I received a double yellow line parking fine in post this morning, saying I was parked on Upper Baggot Street on 30 April. It says my reg, but it definitely was not me. Haven had my car near town in years.

How do I fight this, cos I aint paying it. About the only circumstantial evidence I have is that the tax would have been out since end of Jan, so surely I would have received a double fine for that too. I only taxed it yesterday.

Anan1

I'd ring them and ask whether they have a photograph of the car.

Kersh

Just did, they dont have a photo, the Garda on the phone said to send it to Dublin Castle along with a note explaining why it was not me. So Ill do that, and knowing this country will receive a summons in 30 days etc etc :mad:

cormie

You'd want to be careful that there isn't another car out there with your reg. A parking fine is the mildest form of trouble you could get in :eek:

Kersh

Hope there isnt! Surely the Garda/Warden that issued the ticket has the make and model in his book? And this is what they will X-ref it with. And then realise its not my make/model of car. . . if it comes back as same make/model then I will be worrying!

Del2005

Kersh wrote: »

Hope there isnt! Surely the Garda/Warden that issued the ticket has the make and model in his book? And this is what they will X-ref it with. And then realise its not my make/model of car. . . if it comes back as same make/model then I will be worrying!

It will more then likely be the same make and model.

Your best bet is to report that you suspect your car has been cloned at your local Garda station, bring the parking ticket with you. Ask for a pulse reference, then if anything happens there will be a record of you saying you suspect you've been cloned.

D_murph

I had a similar incident here a few weeks ago. I got a parking ticket with my reg number :eek: on it and I was most definitely not parked where/when the letter indicated.

I rang them up and gave them the reference number and my reg and the lady on the phone told me there and then that I was OK as that reg had come up as a mis match and that I would be getting a cancellation letter soon regarding the matter.

2 weeks later and no letter so I rang again as I reckoned that the conversation I had with her on the phone wasn't worth the paper it was written on without that letter. (I dont trust them as far as I could throw them )

I gave my details again and a different lady told me that the letter was still on the way but that the ticket was indeed cancelled as there was an issue with the car make/model and reg not matching up. I drive a Ford Focus and the car in question was a Nissan Primera so I was happy with that.

Sure enough, the letter came in a few days so all was well .

Now, if the clown of a traffic warden that couldn't read a reg plate properly :rolleyes: (he still caused me a bit of heart ache at the time :mad:) had done so with another Ford Focus, I reckon I would have been fooked but I suppose the odds of this happening would be too low.

I was also concerned that somebody may have a cloned version of my car out there but a simple phone call put this to rest and I recommend you do the same.

I reckon you will be OK TBH mate :cool:.

hi5

Are traffic wardens supposed to take the reg no and details from the tax disc,are tax discs been forged too?

slimjimmc

Tax discs, insurance discs and licences are being forged for many years, probably NCT too. I remember reading a few cases in the papers over the years.

Dummy

This happened to me in the early 90's.

I received a letter stating that I had a unpaid parking fine. My car was parked on a street off Gardiner Street in Dublin. It gave the reg number which was mine and gave the date of the offence.

I knew I had not been anywhere near town on that day (in fact I very rarely go into town), But I was positive that I nor my car were not there as on that date, as there was a "significant moment" at work and all of my work colleagues remembered me dealing with this "moment" at the time on the date in question.

I wrote a letter to the parking fines office, accompanied by a letter from a director of the company, which also named the individuals who witnessed me being in the office at that time.

I never heard anymore about it.

Tipp Man

This happened to my dad years ago in reverse

Our car reg was 1119 but the warden wrote 119, haven't seen my dad as happy in a long time as when he got 1 over on them. Delighted with himself

Kersh

I got a letter back today, saying they were investigating my disputed ticket, but that the fine will still be due by the due date or a summons would be issued. Theres no way Im paying it, cos I reckon if I do, they will just close the matter. Surely the original ticket, which obviously wasnt stuck to my windscreen, has the car make etc, so I wonder why they havent just cancelled the ticket. :mad:

Bandara

Kersh wrote: »

I got a letter back today, saying they were investigating my disputed ticket, but that the fine will still be due by the due date or a summons would be issued. Theres no way Im paying it, cos I reckon if I do, they will just close the matter. Surely the original ticket, which obviously wasnt stuck to my windscreen, has the car make etc, so I wonder why they havent just cancelled the ticket. :mad:

paying the fine is not an admission of guilt or any acceptance on your part that the matter is finished.

Pay it on time, keep all receipts and correspondence.

False plates has become a HUGE issue in this country, I used see a handful of instances of it a year, now it almost a weekly occurance. The vehicle with your plates on it will be the same make model and colour, they will run up fines, toll bridge bills and most importantly they will commit drive offs at lots of service stations.

I'd advise going to your local station and havign a chat with the desk sergant and telling him that you think your plates have been cloned. Get his name etc and note the date and time you went there. So if in a month or 2 you get a visit from the guards you have protected yourself.

These chancers normally change the plates again every month or two.

good luck.

Welease

Yep, get it sorted with the police or a single parking fine may be the least of your worries..

My dad's plate was cloned a couple of years ago.. and he was receiving fines from all over the country.. Luckily it was eventually sorted when a sharp eyed Garda noticed the car in the picture had a slightly different model of bumper to my dads. Since then he has received no more fines etc (it did cost him a drive from dublin to Galway to sort out though). Not sure what the Garda did to stop more fines etc.. but I would escalate the issue to them.

Hooch

Kersh wrote: »

I got a letter back today, saying they were investigating my disputed ticket, but that the fine will still be due by the due date or a summons would be issued. Theres no way Im paying it, cos I reckon if I do, they will just close the matter. Surely the original ticket, which obviously wasnt stuck to my windscreen, has the car make etc, so I wonder why they havent just cancelled the ticket. :mad:

Tickets are not placed on the window.....what you got was an FCPN in the post which is the ticket.

You wrote a letter challenging the ticket. That letter will now be sent to the issuing Garda for recommendations. He will check his notbook as to make, model, tax, insurance and nct details. He will then recommend that the ticket stands if the details match.....or recommend it is cancelled if the details dont match.

If you pay the ticket it is an admission of guilt, the fine will not be refunded and you will get the points applied to you licence.

Overature

this happened to my grandad, who is 90. got a fine for parking in dublin city centre, my grandad can barely even drive let alone drive through the city centre.
they let him away with it though

Kersh

Tickets are not placed on the window

I thought people got tickets when parked on double yellows? As in under the wiper?

He will check his notbook as to make, model, tax, insurance and nct details

How long will this take - and if he takes that many details, then surely a cloned car will not match my insurance or nct details etc??

Why havent they asked for them yet?

carmel27

Im getting frustrated just reading this.:mad: Cant imagine how wrecked your poor head must be from trying to get it sorted. Thankfully for me, Ive no experience of this problem, but what really amuses me is that there are ppl that go about blatently breaking the law in far bigger ways (ie. cloning cars) every day, and they can get away with it. Yet, you are innocent and they'll still persue it to the last! Pay the fine, and you're wrong becuse you're accepting responsibility, as well as being left out of pocket and having points slapped on your licence, but dont pay it and you'll get a summons. Fair annoying! Sorry I cant offer any advice .

Hope you eventually get to the bottom of it.

Hooch

Kersh wrote: »

I thought people got tickets when parked on double yellows? As in under the wiper?



How long will this take - and if he takes that many details, then surely a cloned car will not match my insurance or nct details etc??

Why havent they asked for them yet?

No issuing of paper tickets finished in late 2005 / early 2006

Normally cloned cars will not have the same insurance details/ tax details on the disc.

They dont need to ask for them....they are all on PULSE.

cormie

The Garda traffic wardens in the brown uniforms do still put the little slips under the wiper though to notify you that you'll be getting a ticket, right? Maybe this is what Kersh meant? I got one on the 1st of August, 2008 at 16:57 anyway (appealed to Super and won )

axer

Kersh wrote: »

I thought people got tickets when parked on double yellows? As in under the wiper?

The someone can come along and just take the ticket off.

Hooch

cormie wrote: »

The Garda traffic wardens in the brown uniforms do still put the little slips under the wiper though to notify you that you'll be getting a ticket, right? Maybe this is what Kersh meant? I got one on the 1st of August, 2008 at 16:57 anyway (appealed to Super and won )

There are NO Garda traffic wardens. There are no brown Garda uniforms.

You must mean a urban council etc.....and if you appealed a Ticket to a super which was issued by the council....they im sure your ended up paying it;) Council tickets = appeal to council.

jm99

i live in the south east and got a fine for my teleporter from sligo county council, just rang them up and told them and that was the last i heard of it.

cormie

nice guy always wrote: »

There are NO Garda traffic wardens. There are no brown Garda uniforms.

You must mean a urban council etc.....and if you appealed a Ticket to a super which was issued by the council....they im sure your ended up paying it;) Council tickets = appeal to council.

Nope, appealed to Super, super cancelled ticket, didn't have to pay... ticket was issued by An Garda Siochana and a little slip was placed on my windscreen by a lady wearing a brown warden uniform. Not the usual Red/Navy uniform worn by council wardens in the same district.

Kersh

Resolution I got a letter back from garda traffic stating that the matter has now been dropped and the parking fine cancelled. Phew.