Summons while away

Mingetoad

Hi all,
I have received a summons for not having car tax. The car was taxed at the time of thealleged offence and I have the tax disc to prove it. I am due to be on the other side of the world on the day of the summons. I have some questions:
If I produce the tax disc to the garda named on the summons can they have the case struck out?
If this is not possible and I do not appear at court, will there be repurcussions?
Can someone else go for me to produce the tax disc?
Finally, the summons was not served correctly- just left in my letterbox in a large apartment block. Is it a reasonable option to plead ignorance, go on my business trip and deal with things when I get back?
Thanks for your help.

source

A few points,

1, you got the summons, so it was delivered correctly. Stop looking for loopholes and man up to the responsibilities involved in getting such a document.

2, Tax discs have no start date, so it cannot be seen from the disc if it was valid from a certain date....It only shows the date that the disc expires.

3, Gardai have a way of checking that the disc that was displayed on the vehicle was valid at the time through the local council and the serial number at the top of the disc....So will be able to tell if this disc is the same as the one on the car when it was ticketed.

4, To get a summons for no tax, you would first have to have received a ticket, then a reminder 28 days after the first ticket, then finally a summons.

5, Just thought of this, check the top of the summons, does it say no tax or no tax displayed? While you may have had the car taxed, it's a separate offence for not having it on show on the windscreen of the vehicle.

6, If you choose not to appear in court you may be convicted in your absence by the judge for an offence like this, basically you're saying that you're aware of the situation but couldn't be bothered to show up to defend yourself. When this happens the judge listens to the Garda's evidence and decides based on that. If you're in court you can give your mitigating circumstances which may or may not get you off.

McCrack

In fairness the first thing a solicitor will look at when a person has been served with a summons (whether civil or criminal) is the mode of service and whether that service is good service.

It's not about shirking responsibility or being 'man enough' to face up to legal action. It's about following correct procedures laid down by the Rules of Court that any person serving a summons should be aware of. The OP is correct to question the mode of service.

Also tax discs have a date of commencement on them.

source

McCrack wrote: »

In fairness the first thing a solicitor will look at when a person has been served with a summons (whether civil or criminal) is the mode of service and whether that service is good service.

It's not about shirking responsibility or being 'man enough' to face up to legal action. It's about following correct procedures laid down by the Rules of Court that any person serving a summons should be aware of. The OP is correct to question the mode of service.

Also tax discs have a date of commencement on them.

Registered post, or personal service are the main two modes of summons service, however regular post is an acceptable form of service. If the summons was delivered to his address by An Post then that is a valid form of service.

There is no commencement date on a tax disc.

There is however a serial number, a month and year (valid until end of this month), a price which was paid for said disc, the colour of the vehicle and the registration of the vehicle and the make and model.

If they have started doing it in the last year then I will stand corrected, but I haven't seen this personally and I've seen a lot of tax discs. Validity of tax discs are checked by AGS through the local council.

EDIT: Just checked this and I stand corrected. There is a commencement date on the disc.

slimjimmc

foinse wrote: »

2, Tax discs have no start date, so it cannot be seen from the disc if it was valid from a certain date....It only shows the date that the disc expires.

Strange, my tax disc has a date xx-05-10 clearly printed on the lower row beside the car manufacturers name, and this date nicely coincides with the date of issue.

Our man in Havana

Regular post is only acceptable for service if a court has granted an order for substituted service where service by hand or registered post was not successful.

Mingetoad

Thanks for the replies so far. To let you know I did not receive any fine in the post, did not receive any reminder for the fine and the summons seems to have been hand delivered into my leterbox.
My tax disc certainly does hav ethe commencement date on it.
I called in to speak to the garda mentioned on the summons. She was not in work today. The garda I did speak to seemed to think the original garda will strike it out, unless she has evidence that the disc was not displayed. There should be no issue with that as the disc was displayed.

I'm a bit annoyed about it all as it is down to an individual garda's error, which is acceptable, but the lack of fine delivery and the summons not being registered delivery added to the rigmarole to sort it is putting my first holiday in a few years in jeapordy.

MagicSean

Mingetoad wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. To let you know I did not receive any fine in the post, did not receive any reminder for the fine and the summons seems to have been hand delivered into my leterbox.
My tax disc certainly does hav ethe commencement date on it.
I called in to speak to the garda mentioned on the summons. She was not in work today. The garda I did speak to seemed to think the original garda will strike it out, unless she has evidence that the disc was not displayed. There should be no issue with that as the disc was displayed.

I'm a bit annoyed about it all as it is down to an individual garda's error, which is acceptable, but the lack of fine delivery and the summons not being registered delivery added to the rigmarole to sort it is putting my first holiday in a few years in jeapordy.

There is no problem with a garda putting a summons in a letterbox. This is the most regular mode of service. Just because you had a valid tax disk it doesn't mean you had it displayed. You no longer receive reminders for fines afaik. If your vehicle is registered correctly and you received the summons, a judge will probably be unlikely to believe you didn't receive the fine. Although judges vary greatly on this. The Garda will most likely strike it out if you have tax wether it was displayed or not, although this is up to her. You can have a solicitor appear for you in your place but the judge won't usually listen to mitigation if you are convicted.

hotfeet

You can also write a letter to the Justice via the Clerk of the court, Court Clerk, and enclose copies of all the relevant documentation including the summons , and also forward copies to the Inspector I/C the station from which the Guard come from, explain the circumstances and that its your opinion that the guard is in error. If your case is proven you may well be in a position to submit a claim for expenses, ie postage, telephone calls, photocopying etc etc. The Guards have been issiued with an internal memo stating that they have to collect as much revenue as they possibly can, and they have been further instructed to curtail costs in every possible way, including the use of patrol cars,stationary, phones, even bullets for firearms training have been rationed. They are now a defacto branch of the revenue commissioners.

MagicSean

hotfeet wrote: »

You can also write a letter to the Justice via the Clerk of the court, Court Clerk, and enclose copies of all the relevant documentation including the summons , and also forward copies to the Inspector I/C the station from which the Guard come from, explain the circumstances and that its your opinion that the guard is in error. If your case is proven you may well be in a position to submit a claim for expenses, ie postage, telephone calls, photocopying etc etc. The Guards have been issiued with an internal memo stating that they have to collect as much revenue as they possibly can, and they have been further instructed to curtail costs in every possible way, including the use of patrol cars,stationary, phones, even bullets for firearms training have been rationed. They are now a defacto branch of the revenue commissioners.

I've not seen that memo. It appears to be a figment of your imagination.

Mary Hairy

hotfeet wrote: »

You can also write a letter to the Justice via the Clerk of the court, Court Clerk, and enclose copies of all the relevant documentation including the summons , and also forward copies to the Inspector I/C the station from which the Guard come from, explain the circumstances and that its your opinion that the guard is in error. If your case is proven you may well be in a position to submit a claim for expenses, ie postage, telephone calls, photocopying etc etc. The Guards have been issiued with an internal memo stating that they have to collect as much revenue as they possibly can, and they have been further instructed to curtail costs in every possible way, including the use of patrol cars,stationary, phones, even bullets for firearms training have been rationed. They are now a defacto branch of the revenue commissioners.

A case cannot be defended by letter to the Court Clerk. A summons is a command to appear in Court and defend the accusation. Failure to appear can result in a warrant for the arrest of the defendant or the case can be dealt with in the absence of the defendant. Justice must be administered in public. Costs cannot be awarded against the guards where a matter is successfully defended.

Reggiardo Roncero

Late and slightly off the point i know, but don't have sufficient priviledges to start an original thread.

looking for some advice

i was caught speeding in a company car. the notice was sent to work who then informed the guards that i was the driver responsible. i received an email in work to say that i had been caught and to expect a fine to appear in the post.

although expecting, i never received the fine. it turned out the fixed penalty notice was sent to my old address.


By the time i received it 56 days had elapsed. i still tried to pay the fine but it was rejected. the notice of rejection was sent to my old address also.

if a summons is sent my feeling is that it will arrive at my old address also.

What will happen if i fail to appear in court because i do not receive the summons in time

Our man in Havana

A warrant will be issued for your arrest.

Reggiardo Roncero

Our man in Havana wrote: »

A warrant will be issued for your arrest.

should i inform my local garda station of my change of address

Our man in Havana

Yes.

Reloc8

Reggiardo Roncero wrote: »

Late and slightly off the point i know, but don't have sufficient priviledges to start an original thread.

looking for some advice

i was caught speeding in a company car. the notice was sent to work who then informed the guards that i was the driver responsible. i received an email in work to say that i had been caught and to expect a fine to appear in the post.

although expecting, i never received the fine. it turned out the fixed penalty notice was sent to my old address.


By the time i received it 56 days had elapsed. i still tried to pay the fine but it was rejected. the notice of rejection was sent to my old address also.

if a summons is sent my feeling is that it will arrive at my old address also.

What will happen if i fail to appear in court because i do not receive the summons in time

You will be fined in your absence for the offence of speeding. Max fine €800 for first time conviction from memory. You will be dealt with more harshly than somebody who turns up to court.

You can in theory be sent to prison for your third such offence (i.e. one attracting the general penalty under the RTA's).

Our man in Havana wrote: »

A warrant will be issued for your arrest.

Eh no. The case will proceed in his absence. This is a speeding ticket.

Reggiardo Roncero wrote: »

should i inform my local garda station of my change of address

The specific problem you have is probably that your car is/was not registered to that address. That's your fault and why you didn't get your letter.

MagicSean

If it was a company car the original fine would have been sent to them. Is it not them that then provide the adress for the driver?

Reloc8

correct - my mistake.

Reggiardo Roncero

k_mac wrote: »

If it was a company car the original fine would have been sent to them. Is it not them that then provide the adress for the driver?

my employer was aware of my change of my address as it is a small company and i had to get a reference from them to say i could afford my new apartment.

is it a plausible defence to lay blame with my employer for not supplying the gardai with my correct details. which is why i didn't receive the fixed penalty notice in time in the first place.

Reloc8

That's not entirely unreasonable - up to you as to whether you make that case yourself in court or get a solicitor involved.

As already stated you should try and ensure that you do receive the summons if/when issued which would involve notifying gardai of your correct address. That will also count in your favour.

lady1

Apparently I never showed up in court - never got the Summons.....the Guard in Q called me personally , I explained and then presented my insurance cert at local Guarda Station and all was ok. Guards have enough scum bags to deal with than arrest someone who didnt have insurance displayed.

Reloc8

Yep. He/she did a decent thing by adjourning it although you wern't there because he probably figured you as being someone unlikely not to be insured, then called you and advised you to get your insurance cert to him.

Whether you got the summons or not you don't seem to have produced the cert within 10 days as requested.

Gardai are also likely to do have enough to do with eh scumbags to use your words than be issuing summons against people who don't display their insurance and forget to produce it but in this instance one went above and beyond the call of duty/courtesy to sort you out.

If he/she hadn't you'd have had to appeal to the Circuit Court, and might well have been off the road pending appeal.

Meanwhile this is about a speeding ticket.

lady1

Hi,

My insurance disk was displayed and valid....but apparently a displayed disc isnt proof of it's validity. Yes, he was nice enough to call but to issue a summons for court seemed very strange...granted I had just turned into the bus lane before it became a f left hand turn...just shy of the arrow , however it was courteous that he called and the matter was resolved. Nice sicillini

Reloc8

Ah - sorry for presuming you hadn't displayed.

He asked you for your cert because of the turn into the bus-lane I imagine - its relatively common practice to look for the thing to be produced when a stop is effected for any reason.

And yes, it was nice of him to sort you out on it

lady1

Yup....the sicillinis dont get half the credit they deserve !..

Croc

Just to avoid any ambiguity on the matter of service of the summons on the OP.
The Service was good (not to say a solicitor may argue otherwise and win in court).

There are two modes of service of a summons, which can be found in the Rules of the District Court (Order 10).

Personal delivery: by handing a copy of the summons to you or by leaving it at your last known abode or your place of work, or with your spouse, child or other relative.

Postal delivery: by ordinary or registered post to your last or most usual place of abode or to your place of business or employment.

shaneybaby

Croc wrote: »

Just to avoid any ambiguity on the matter of service of the summons on the OP.
The Service was good (not to say a solicitor may argue otherwise and win in court).

There are two modes of service of a summons, which can be found in the Rules of the District Court (Order 10).

Personal delivery: by handing a copy of the summons to you or by leaving it at your last known abode or your place of work, or with your spouse, child or other relative.

Postal delivery: by ordinary or registered post to your last or most usual place of abode or to your place of business or employment.

By way of aside there is no general service of a summons by hand in the district court ie. litigation procedures, you must be an authorised summons server/gardai as set out in the rules you linked.