Old Tax Discs Stung Me!

cormie

Last week I just happened to check my Astra tax disc (for the first time in ages) to see when it expired and saw Feb 2011 :eek: I got shocked and was thinking what the hell, there's no way I forgot to pay that last year and it's been on the road, through checkpoints etc without it being noticed so I got straight into the car and saw that the Feb 2012 disc was slid under the old one. Lucky that I noticed it I thought but alas, yesterday I received a fine in the post:

"Failing to Display A Current Vehicle Licence - Park (Non Display of a Tax Disc). Contrary to Sections 73(1) and 76 (as amended by Section 63 Finance Act 1976. involving the driving or use of a mechanically propelled vehicle bearing identification mark ***** in a public place at ****** at ****

Damn! I'm pretty sure there's nothing I can do, even though the car was fully taxed, insured etc, the tax disc wasn't visible. Is it even worth an appeal I wonder? Pretty much the same thing happened me good oul mate Rudiger, in this thread with the insurance disc and that was a hopeless case also.

What's funny is the date of the offence is pretty much a day or two before I noticed it, but I didn't touch the tax disc for a good few months so it's either been hidden for months and only noticed by Garda about 2 days before I noticed it myself and fixed it. It might have been somebody else taking it out to check the reg/price or something as I'm not the only one who drives it, but it's in my name. The only reason I had kept the old tax discs is because they were all there when I bought the car and thought ah, no harm keeping them, they are proof the car has never been off the road which might go in favour when I'm selling it on.

PCPhoto

give the gardai an email explaining the situation and they might apply for a strikeout of proceedings - it means you might have to goto court and chat with the prosecuting Garda before the case starts and show him/her the current tax disc.

in your email send them a photo of the current disc to prove you have paid and were paid up at the time of the offence - I understand you technically cant win the case because failing to display is the offence and you (by accident) failed to display your disc.

do you have the receipt or credit card/laser card statement for the time that you paid for the current disc - if so, take a pic of that and explain that you had paid at the correct time and simply pushed the new disc into the holder and failed to notice that it sat behind the old one...its a simple mistake to make.

Gingersnaps

The fine is for not displaying a current tax disc. Its not for having no tax. I can't see you getting away with not paying the fine..

Marquis de carabas

Its a strong possibility that it wasn't a guard. Parking wardens now deal with car tax too.

From my experience a judge will often accept it was an honest mistake if you provide proof the car was indeed taxed.

Having said that its a risk. It means going to court which will no doubt mean a day off work. It'd probably cost you more then the fine.

If it was a guard you could try writing a letter with proof of tax to the local superintendent. You could say it to the guard but he'll have to wait till court before he has the power to strike it out.

As for the local council you could try but I'd imagine they'll want the money.

PCPhoto

Gingersnaps wrote: »

The fine is for not displaying a current tax disc. Its not for having no tax. I can't see you getting away with not paying the fine..

I know the offence is non display - but my suggestion was to contact the gardai and see if they understand it was a simple mistake - by proving you had previously taxed the vehicle and simply made an error by not removing the previous disc and placing it underneath it.

the gardai more than likely believe the owner of the car has been avoiding paying car tax so proving to them it was a genuine mistake - apologising for being silly and not noticing it and making sure it wont happen again - they might be lenient.

cormie

Thanks for the replies. The car was parked in Dun Laoghaire at the time. There's blue uniformed council wardens and then there's brown uniformed wardens who I believe are part of the Gardai. It was probably one of these as opposed to the blue uniformed guys? In that case, I see the brown guy about and the Garda station is only up the road so I might pop up and see if they can do anything

MagicSean

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The car was parked in Dun Laoghaire at the time. There's blue uniformed council wardens and then there's brown uniformed wardens who I believe are part of the Gardai. It was probably one of these as opposed to the blue uniformed guys? In that case, I see the brown guy about and the Garda station is only up the road so I might pop up and see if they can do anything

Wardens aren't part of the Gardaí. Either the ticket was issued by an actual Garda or by a council employee.

cormie

I heard before that the brown uniformed wardens are part of Gardai, or something to do with the Gardai. I've been issued a ticket from one before on Gardai headed paper and got a parking fine from Thurles as opposed to the local council of where the parking warden worked. When it's by the blue uniformed council wardens, it's a ticket issued by the local council as opposed the Gardai.

Victor

MagicSean wrote: »

Wardens aren't part of the Gardaí.

I'm not certain, but a number of traffic wardens transferred from council to being civilian employees of the Garda in the late 1990s. It is only people who were already wardens, they aren't being replaced as they leave / retire.

cormie

That could be it then, the two wardens I know in the brown uniforms wouldn't be the youngest anyway so may have been doing it years.

coylemj

DLR wardens are employed by Apcoa.

deadwood

PCPhoto wrote: »

give the gardai an email ....
in your email send them a photo of the current disc .....

Good luck with that.

Garda no like email. Garda say email work of um devil. Garda not like um progress. Garda say computer only good to make more paper.

Ah, the innocence...




O.P. Call in to your station, bring your originals and explain what happened in writing to the garda/warden dealing with the matter so they can forward it to the local Supernintendo/Council. They may still look at it as a failure to display, though.

berrypendel

A bit OT but bear with me

If your tax is out at end of month and you renew it the second last weekof month can you put up the new one straight away or have to wait till the old one expires?

coylemj

berrypendel wrote: »

A bit OT but bear with me

If your tax is out at end of month and you renew it the second last weekof month can you put up the new one straight away or have to wait till the old one expires?

In order to avoid paying for the current month (Jan 2012), you would have to make a declaration in February that you hadn't used the car for the whole month of January so having a tax disc today which says that it expires in Jan-13 explicitly means that you have already paid the tax for January 2012.

Technically a tax disc that says '01-13' for the expiry date doesn't come into force until Feb 1st but the chances of getting a ticket for non-display is nil, traffic wardens and Gardai aren't that desperate for business. Any tax disc with an expiry date in the future will satisfy any official.

MagicSean

coylemj wrote: »

In order to avoid paying for the current month (Jan 2012), you would have to make a declaration in February that you hadn't used the car for the whole month of January so having a tax disc today which says that it expires in Jan-13 explicitly means that you have already paid the tax for January 2012.

Technically a tax disc that says '01-13' for the expiry date doesn't come into force until Feb 1st but the chances of getting a ticket for non-display is nil, traffic wardens and Gardai aren't that desperate for business. Any tax disc with an expiry date in the future will satisfy any official.

Isn't that system due to change in the summer?

cormie

Happy to report that I made an appeal and got a letter saying it was being looked into, then received another letter after saying it had been cancelled