Summoned to court for parking on double yellow

Mahogony

Hi,
I hope someone can shed soem light on this for me.
I arrived home yesterday to find a court summons for parking on a double yellow line last Oct.
Long story short, I was visiting my brother in Tallaght hospital and the car park was full so I, along with a hundred or so other cars parked in the adjacent industrial estate. I was wrong I took my chance I was caught. I came back to my car when the warden had just finished the car beside me and was about to start on mine., I explained the situation- he was having none it it.
I expected to get a notice in the post but nothing arrived so I thought he hadn't written the ticket or processed it or whatever.
So I heard nothing and all of a sudden I have been summoned ?
I rang the Garda station to talk to the prosecuting officer but she has moved jobs and is on holidays, I can't find out who is taking over her cases.
As it happens I am due to be out of the country visiting my brother when the case is due to be heard.
I'm really very nervous about having to go to court at all.
Do I need to get a lawyer? Will I get points? Is there any way I can pay the fine in advance? (which I would have done if I had received a notice) Is there any way to avoid cancelling my trip away? I have been looking forward to this all year . How much trouble am I in?
Should I have recieved a fine in the post? It can't be normal for it to go straight to court surely?
I know this is a small deal but its the closest I have ever come to trouble with the Gardi (never had a ticket before never mind going to court :eek:)
Thanks folks.

coylemj

First of all you shouldn't be worrying so much about this and it would be very unusual to hire a solicitor to defend a parking offence.

Although the Gardai and the local authority (in the form of traffic wardens) do issue on the spot fines, they are legally allowed to take you direct to court via summons. Once a summons is issued you do not have the option of paying a fixed fine even if you originally got a ticket which you did not.

If you do not show up in court you will be fined somewhere in the ballpark of 100 euros and the council may ask for expenses though if they took you direct to court without sending you several threatening letters (to pay the ticket) they may not be able to do this as you never had the option of paying a fixed fine. Most people don't show up and in most cases they are right as sometimes people show up and give long-winded excuses which just annoy the judge and they get hammered with a bigger fine than if they never showed up! In your case you have no real defence so there isn't any point in turning up.

To describe your situation as being 'in trouble with the Gardai' is to exaggerate it out of all proportions, there are dozens of these cases churning through the court every sitting day. If I was you I'd go on holidays and budget for a fine of 100-150 euros on your return, you'll get a letter from the courts 3-4 weeks after the hearing. You will not get points on your licence.

You could send someone along to argue your case but I don't think it will do any good, briefing a solicitor would be a waste of money because he or she could potentially be sitting in court for a few hours waiting for your case to be called and that will cost you big time and probably only reduce the fine by 20 or 30 euros if the judge is in a good mood so it is not an economic proposition.

A parking fine is considered to be the most trivial of offences so do not worry about any effect this will have on you, pay the fine and just forget about it.

Mahogony

Hi,
Thanks a million for the reply. Very sensible approach.
I'm nervous about not turning up although I totally understand your point about waffley excuses annoying the judge. I'm not sure I could relax knowing I should be in court and having to wait 4 weeks to find out the outcome. I need to think about what to do. Even if I just sit there for hours for it to be thrown out/get fined at least I'd know the story.
I am annoyed that what should have cost €40 will cost €100-€150 when I had no chance to pay it :mad: but as they say **** happens and I need to get over that. I've always looked at the world through rose tinted glasses, things are fair, I don't understand whats to be gained bringing me to court? Is this what our tax Euros go on? Doesn't inspire faith in the system.
Thanks again.

Del2005

Is it possible to go to the court where the OP was summonsed to and ask the clerk to change the date or make a note that they'll be away and are pleading guilty? May get the fine reduced a little if it's possible.

coylemj

If he's pleading guilty there's not much point in getting it adjourned because he's going to be away.

OP, write a nice letter to the District Court Clerk at the court address on the summons, quote the summons number and the date of the hearing and say that you will be out of the country and while you mean no disrespect by not showing up for the case (a small bit of grovelling is always good), you can't attend the court but you'd like to plead guilty and in mitigation point out that you were visiting someone in the hospital and the hospital car park was full.

Point out (but don't go into painful levels of detail) that if you had received a parking ticket you would have paid it but that you didn't and that you were summonsed without being given the option of paying a fixed penalty. In the normal course of events judges charge roughly double the on the spot fine as an encouragement to pay up, you may get a reduced fine if the judge is made aware that you didn't get the option of paying a ticket so he might just decide to fine you 40 euros.

In the letter don't get overly friendly or try to trivialise the offence, just keep to the facts, give your excuse and plead guilty.

keeper29

The fact that you did not receive the fine in the post initially may be a good enough defense for the judge. They are not sent by registered post so no guarantee you would receive it. I've seen judges accept this excuse regularly.
It does depend on the mood of the judge but sending a polite and apologetic letter (as mentioned above) might see the matter being struck out altogether!!

Good luck

coylemj

He didn't get a ticket so they never sent him a reminder to pay. Obviously the warden decided that the OP driving off and not waiting for him (the warden) to write the ticket was unacceptable so he decided to prosecute via summons. This would be considered unusual since in the normal course of events if you can manage to drive off before the warden puts the ticket under the wiper you effectively get off.

Fair play would dictate that the judge fine him the standard ticket amount since he never got the option to pay a fine.

Mahogony

Thanks again for all the replies.
Well I wrote the letter to the clerk of the court. Heard nothing back. Date came and went and I went away so missed the court appearance. That was 3 weeks ago. Haven't heard anything. Does anyone know if there is any way I can find out what happened or what fine I need to pay or is it a waiting game watching the post? Thanks folks

BaronVon

If you have someone available to go on your behalf, some judges see this as showing the court repsect and could reduce the fine.

Probably not enough for it to be worth their while taking a day off work, but if you know someone with nothing better to do.....

source

Mahogony wrote: »

Thanks again for all the replies.
Well I wrote the letter to the clerk of the court. Heard nothing back. Date came and went and I went away so missed the court appearance. That was 3 weeks ago. Haven't heard anything. Does anyone know if there is any way I can find out what happened or what fine I need to pay or is it a waiting game watching the post? Thanks folks

Ring the district court office and ask them the outcome.

coylemj

Mahogony wrote: »

Thanks again for all the replies.
Well I wrote the letter to the clerk of the court. Heard nothing back. Date came and went and I went away so missed the court appearance. That was 3 weeks ago. Haven't heard anything. Does anyone know if there is any way I can find out what happened or what fine I need to pay or is it a waiting game watching the post? Thanks folks

If you haven't received a letter by the end of next week it would be safe to assume that the case did not proceed, either because the traffic warden had left the job and so didn't run up and the case was struck out (that happens a lot) or that the judge gave you the Probation Act because of the grovelling letter you wrote him :rolleyes:

Either way, if you have the original summons, you can ring the District Court office, quote the summons number and ask them to tell you what happened.

McCrack

why the state deals with these type of offences via summons at all is stupid, really is.

The District Court is busy enough without these type of summaries coming in its doors. FPN and FPN only (unless the person contests or refuses to pay)

David Della Rocco

Well OP! What happened? I have a similar situation coming up and do not want to take a full day off work as it will cost me just as much as the fine.

jaybeeveedub

under the district court rules, any family member may attend the DC on your behalf

2. Save where otherwise provided by statute or by rules of court, the father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother or sister of any party may appear on behalf of that party provided that any such person has the leave of the Court to appear and be heard and that the Court is satisfied that the party is, from infirmity or other unavoidable cause, unable to appear.


So your job in the current climate is in a precarious position and you couldn't take a day off (no holidays left) my mum is here to plead for my life!!

I got my Dad to do it for me for a parking ticket, and he was so nervous and sincere that the judge said "no fine"