Impossible time on fixed penalty notice

Thinspired

Just looking for a bit of advice on this... I got a fixed penalty notice in the post saying I was caught speeding at 15.57 on the day in question, however I had actually arrived in work (which is at least five minutes' drive away from the office) between 15.50 and 15.55. As far as I know I was logged in on my computer before 4pm.

Do I have any comeback here? If I can get IT to print out my login sheet and prove neither me nor my car could possibly have been in the stated place at the stated time is the notice null and void?

That, of course, is assuming the IT crowd can print out my login details for me...hmmmm...

Eric Cartman

Thinspired wrote: »

Just looking for a bit of advice on this... I got a fixed penalty notice in the post saying I was caught speeding at 15.57 on the day in question, however I had actually arrived in work (which is at least five minutes' drive away from the office) between 15.50 and 15.55. As far as I know I was logged in on my computer before 4pm.

Do I have any comeback here? If I can get IT to print out my login sheet and prove neither me nor my car could possibly have been in the stated place at the stated time is the notice null and void?

That, of course, is assuming the IT crowd can print out my login details for me...hmmmm...

any cctv of your car in the carpark ? also could the time just be wrong, as in , were you actually speeding and going down that road on the way to work and your just trying to get out of it ?

the_syco

For such a small time discrepancy, I'd say they'll just see it as your time and their time being off by a few minutes. Not all time is by the atomic clock...

Thinspired

There is CCTV, I hadn't thought of that.

My whole question centres on the fact that the time IS wrong. So what I'm asking is if my solicitor was to stand up in court and present CCTV and computer data proving I could not possibly have been in the place at the time they said I was then how can the charge stand. After all if a camera is reading a faulty time, how much else could be faulty? Wrong speed? Wrong car?

Thinspired

You're probably right, The Syco. I was just curious as to where the bar is set in court when it comes to the specifics in things like these. I've heard of absolutely ridiculous reasons for speeding fines being dropped before.

It won't actually be me getting the rap for it which is kind of why I was trying to see if there were any loopholes. Ah well, I tried...

boghopper

Its pretty easy for your IT people to see what time you were logged in at. I know at the place i work at we use windows small business server 2003 and on it for administrators, is the security event viewer, assuming that no one has adjusted the time on the server since you got your ticket, you can tell exactly to the second what time you logged in at and what difference if any is the time on the server from real time.

johndaman66

I think your probably clutching at straws to be honest. Your computer log in time probably doesn't mean a whole lot in the eyes of the law, moreso if you work in a private company perhaps. I'm sure IT guys could doctor such logs if they wished with not too much hassle. You could potentially be good friends with an IT guy and they woundn't take too much notice of assisting you...just hypothetically speaking.

Also I was done for speeding myself once. Granted, I was pretty over the limit but was raging due to the circumstances....Guards were very sneaky where they were preying, treated me like a master criminal, when they caught up with me which was uncalled for I thought...everything else on the car was spot on and it was my first time ever being in any sort of trouble with the law (not that speeding is necessary a serious crime). Howsever to cut a long story short I found out at the time that they are in no way required to provide you with a read out or calibration cert. I would imagine the same rule follows through for time and they are allowed a certain deviance. I stand to be correcrted though.

Veloce

Not too sure if you could get away with it to be honest. The timeframe difference is quite small, and i'm not sure how much of an case your solicitor would have in court even having back up for the 5 min difference or so of you arriving at work. It would be a different story if it was a 3 or 4 hour difference but at the end of the day you were caught speeding.

You could chance your arm though, it would be nice to get off on a technicality such as that.

mikemac

Not every clock in Ireland is the same.
Even in your office your PC, your office phone, your watch, your mobile and clock on the wall all are different by a few minutes.
I'd be astounded OP if every device you use is exactly the same.

You can try it in court but I can't see it working

djimi

I presume where they are claiming you were caught is on your route into work yes? The only way you might have a case is if you were caught somewhere other than on that route (or any other potential route), ie, if you can prove that, even taking the discrepency into account, you couldnt possibly have been where they said you were at or around that time.

Thinspired

Ok ok, I give up. It was worth giving a try though. Wouldn't you?:rolleyes:

mickdw

If the CCTV system ha some type of time verification system on it, you could get off but it would certainly need to be a cast iron system for a judge to pay any heed to it.

I once got out of a parking ticket because the time on the windscreen ticket left by warden was 1 minute different to that which was recorded on the slip posted to my home. The town council staff werent too agreeable at first but when I said that they would find it difficult to make it stick in court, they agreed to cancel the fine.

slimjimmc

mickdw wrote: »

If the CCTV system ha some type of time verification system on it, you could get off but it would certainly need to be a cast iron system for a judge to pay any heed to it.

I once got out of a parking ticket because the time on the windscreen ticket left by warden was 1 minute different to that which was recorded on the slip posted to my home. The town council staff werent too agreeable at first but when I said that they would find it difficult to make it stick in court, they agreed to cancel the fine.

Yeah but parking restrictions are usually time-sensitive, as in 1 hr parking, or parking only during certain hours. Fixed speed limits don't have such a relationship with time, if you were speeding you were speeding. The time isn't really all that relevant to speeding offences, what is important are the photographs showing the car speeding around that time or a Garda's statement. If the courts rectify minor discrepancies such as wrong addresses or misspelt names I'm sure they'll do the same with a minor time difference.

galwaytt

Eric Cartman wrote: »

any cctv of your car in the carpark ?

...more to the point: does GTC have an image of you committing the offence (speed camera, etc...) ? In which case, any defence you put up, may well be moot...

corktina

It would be fairly easy to see the camera flash and phone the office and get someone else to log in for you, i don't think that defence will work.