Driving Ban

dmcgrath

Hi all,

I hope i'm posting in the right place and i thank you all for your help in advance, I got a driving ban in august for driving with no insurance.
I got stopped in September while doing deliveries for Dominio's pizza, i was asked to produce my insurance and licence within 10 days to a Garda Station of my choice.

I was driving another car at the time as my car was off the road for a month, i had rang my insurance company and transfered it onto this car for a month i thought but found out at a later date my insurance could only be transfered for 2 weeks.

So say i transfered my insurance from 1st of Sept till 1st of Oct or at least i thought it was but actually it was from 1st - 14th Sept, I got stopped on the 18th of Sept and was asked to produce, then i transfered my insurance again from the 3rd of Oct till the 10th Oct as my car was still not fixed. So i was not insured under my own policy at the time i was stopped but i do have work insurance with dominos as do all dominos drivers.

I produced my insurance certificate to the garda station and explained that my policy was tranfered from my usual car to the car in question and was told that everything was fine. I had not been isued a temporary cert for the car i was driving so cert said my normal reg number.

Some months later there was a knock on my door and i was handed a summons for fialing to produce licence and insurance, and driving with no licence and insurance, it was the garda that stopped me that gave me the summons.

I explained to him that i had produced within ten days (at this time i still thought i had been insured under my policy) and he told me i hadnt but that if i brought down the relevent documents to prove i was insured at the time before the court date it wouldnt go to court. I think i had about a month to do so.

So i got onto my insurance company and requested a new insurance certificate for the car i was driving to show it was on cover, i was then told i was not insured for the date in question but it was a few days before and a week or so after. So i requested proof of this be sent to me.

I got a copy of my work insurance then and went to the garda station to see this garda, the first day i went and he wasnt there, i was told he'd be in at 2pm tomorrow, so i went back the next day to be told he wasnt there but that he'd be there tomorrow, so again i went the following day and again he wasn't there. So the garda at the desk asked if there was anything she could do, i explained the situation to her and she said that she would take copies of my documents, put them in the system and pass a copy onto the Garda that stopped me. I asked her about court and she said that there was no need to go as i was insured and had a licence.
I left the station a happy man thinking this was all behind me and didn't think about it again.

I then moved over the following weeks to a new home and continued to drive for dominos, i had my post redirected from my old house to my new one and on the 20th of July i got a letter in the post to say i was banned for 2 years commencing on the 21st of July and had to pay a 1500 fine. I went straight to the garda station to find the Garda that had stopped me and he wasn't there, i explained to the garda there what had happened and was told i'd have to talk to the garda that brought me to court, so for the next 4 days i went to the Garda station when i was told he'd be in to find he wasn't, on the 24th i finally caught up with the garda and he said thats nothing to do with me, you have to go to the court services, it being a saturday i had to wait till the monday to go there.

When i went to the court services i was told that i had to appeal it within 14 days to keep my licence for the duration of the appeal, 14 days from the court date was the 21st of July, so after all this I went to the courts, applied for an extension on the appeal and had to pay €500 recognicence and was then told it'd take about 6 months for the appeal to be dealt with and that i couldn't drive for this time and there was nothing i could do about it.

Sorry that was so long winded but i feel it all needed to be said for you to understand what had happened.

Does anybody know if there is anything i can do about this?
Is there any way to speed it up?
Could i get compensated for the loss of my job?

Thanks alot,

Dmcgrath

MagicSean

So long story short you were driving with no insurance on the day you were stopped. Is that correct?

dmcgrath

I was insured but not under my own policy, i was on a delivery when I got stopped and dominos have insurance for all drivers as normal insurance doesn't cover deliveries

Mary Hairy

have a look at

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056040364

source

Can I ask why, when you knew the court date, you didn't show up?

IF you had bothered to go and brought all your documentation, and explained your case the judge may not have been as heavy with the sentence.

dmcgrath

I thought i didn't have to go as the garda said if i produce before court i wouldnt have to go and same when i produced

Reloc8

I'm not entirely clear as to whether you were or were not insured. Forgetting about the saga of transferring etc. this is black and white and capable of a yes or no. It seems to me like you produced a couple of certificates and neither covered you for the vehicle on the date in question hence the summons issued and hence the case was not struck out.

The female garda who took the second cert from you would not necessarily have known one way or another what the particular circumstances of the driving was. If you said to her 'these are insurance documents that prove I was insured on the day' she would have said 'you have nothing to worry about' and it was reasonable of her to say this.

If you were in fact not insured on the day you have no cause for complaint.

If you were in fact insured then its a right balls-up. You should get a solicitor involved and through him/her seek a priority hearing in the Circuit Court to get the conviction & DQ vacated.

If you were in fact not insured you should still get a solicitor and seek a priority hearing date as, presuming you have no previous convictions for insurance, it is most unlikely that you would be disqualified although the fine will probably remain.

If you have previous for insurance within the past 4 years and were not insured then the minimum ban is 2 years and there is no option to avoid that.

If you were insured on the day and produced the documents and can prove to a high degree of certainty that you lost your job because of the disqualification you may have a cause of action for loss of the job. Talk to a solicitor.

If you were not insured on the day you have no cause of action.

lynchie

dmcgrath wrote: »

I thought i didn't have to go as the garda said if i produce before court i wouldnt have to go and same when i produced

The garda who told you that was not the one who issued the summons to you. Unless I had been told by the garda involved not to bother going to court as he would ask for a strike out I would still appear in court. Failure to appeal within the 14 days means your disqualification remains in force till appeal and there is nothing you can do about it.

dmcgrath

Yes i have an insurance certificate from domino's that states once i have a full licence i am insured to drive (This does not have my reg on it or anything as it is for all drivers in the store, it just says that anyone driving for dominos is covered) this is the certificate i produced to the female garda, i explained to her what happened so she gave me a reciept to prove i produced before the court date. I also have a letter from domino's pizza to say i was in work that night and that i am covered on there policy and i have a print out from there system of what deliveries i went on that night and at what times.

Once the ban came into effect i could no longer work but i can return to work once i have my licence back although i will only be part time (maximum 12 hours a weeek) where i had been working between 35 and 50 hours a week before.

I have never been to court over driving before and have no penalty points

FreudianSlippers

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