Help! getting fined for a car that is not mine!!!

mr. blue

two summers ago a friend kindly lent me his car to practise for my up coming test.( I need my full license because I was going to be spending a year in new zealand)

so we put the car in my name and I got axa to insure me on it.after I passed my test..i drove straight to his house and parked the car in his garden and handed his the mother the log book.

while in NZ my ma contacted me and told me I received a fine for my friends car not displaying any tax .I thought that my friend had changed the name by now. I got on to my friend and ask him about this he said that he had could change the log book coz I hadnt sign it. he told me to send him the fine and he pay it off.

a couple off months went by and my ma again contacted me and told me another fine!!! so i got on to him again this time he told me that he had been up at a garda station where they informed him that he couldn’t pay the fine because the car was not reg. in his name so we agreed to have the log book sent out to me in new zealand. I got a few weeks later and sent it back to him think the matter would be resolved.

went I return home a year later a few weeks back and a received a summons from gards for not paying both fines. my friend as generous as neglected this and left me in the ****.

together we went to free legal aid to ask if we could do any thing about it.

we were told to try pay off the fines and tell our story to the Sgt who is responsible for the summons;


I tried to pay th fines but they would let me due to them being in the court system.

tried to contact the Sgt but can not get hold of him for the life off me, its like he a bleeding ghost!

any advice or help would be greatly appreciated as the court case is near and I dont want to get a criminal record or points on my licence!!??

coylemj

mr. blue wrote: »

this time he told me that he had been up at a garda station where they informed him that he couldn’t pay the fine because the car was not reg. in his name

Your 'friend' has been telling you a series of lies, the Gardai will accept payment of a fine from anyone.

Ultimately the problem is of your own making, you should have filled out the back of the registration cert with the change of ownership back into his name and you should have posted it to Shannon. Leaving it to others leads to precisely the situation you find yourself in.

Now that summons have been issued, you are wasting your time chasing up individual Gardai, you will have to go to court.

mr. blue

ok thanks for the advice. Would you recommend getting a solicitor?

Zambia

Just out off interest what is the wording off the charge?

mr. blue

Zambia wrote: »

Just out off interest what is the wording off the charge?

on the 08/**/** being the registered owner of a proppelled Vehicle, reg. number 97***** which was parked at ***********Dublin Dublin a public place in said district court area of Dublin metropolitan District While there was not fic=xed to and exhibited on the vechicle a licence which is both issued in respectof the said vehicle and for the time being in force.


Contrary to Sections 73 (1) and 76 as amended by Section 63 of the Finance Act 1993) of the Finance Act 1997

MarkR

Was the friend driving it? Tell them you sold the car when you left, maybe proof of living in NZ.

JeffyD

I had a similar problem two years ago. One day 3 Garda came knocking on the door with a Court summons over non payment on fines relating to a car I had previously sold. I went down to my local Garda station who looked at all the proof I had but they said they couldn't do anything & I should go to Santry Garda station as the Traffic Corps were based there, did that , got the same response that nothing they could do about it & I should go to the issuing Garda ..... who was never there when I called.

At each of the three stations the Garda on the desk advised me that I should have just paid the fines even if they were not for me and then query it afterwards! Anyway , I went to the Court ( no solicitor required ) , explained to the judge what happened and She threw the case out & gave the issuing Garda a telling off for wasting everyone's time when the proof was there in the first place.

Better off just go and give it a shot & explain your side of the story

mr. blue

JeffyD wrote: »

I had a similar problem two years ago. One day 3 Garda came knocking on the door with a Court summons over non payment on fines relating to a car I had previously sold. I went down to my local Garda station who looked at all the proof I had but they said they couldn't do anything & I should go to Santry Garda station as the Traffic Corps were based there, did that , got the same response that nothing they could do about it & I should go to the issuing Garda ..... who was never there when I called.

At each of the three stations the Garda on the desk advised me that I should have just paid the fines even if they were not for me and then query it afterwards! Anyway , I went to the Court ( no solicitor required ) , explained to the judge what happened and She threw the case out & gave the issuing Garda a telling off for wasting everyone's time when the proof was there in the first place.

Better off just go and give it a shot & explain your side of the story

Thanks JeffD tanks for sharing your story : ) Thats a good bit off sound advice . you reckon no Solicitor??! I just don't want to get ****'d on the day ya know but havnt really got the cash to be flinging at a Solicitor.

JeffyD

Yes, would recommend it but I am no expert , have never been in a court before that day or since but it was packed with one case after the next of people with similar fines and I didn't see one with a solicitor. I was given a time of 10am to be there but wasn't called to nearer 11.30am as it seems everyone has the same approx. time so I got to see plenty of cases.

coylemj

JeffyD wrote: »

I had a similar problem two years ago. One day 3 Garda came knocking on the door with a Court summons over non payment on fines relating to a car I had previously sold. I went down to my local Garda station who looked at all the proof I had but they said they couldn't do anything & I should go to Santry Garda station as the Traffic Corps were based there, did that , got the same response that nothing they could do about it & I should go to the issuing Garda ..... who was never there when I called.

They told you that simply to get rid of you. Once a summons has been issued, the Gardai have no power to withdraw it so you have to go to court.

JeffyD wrote: »

At each of the three stations the Garda on the desk advised me that I should have just paid the fines even if they were not for me and then query it afterwards!

More BS, the system doesn't allow for refunds once a fine is paid.

Zambia

mr. blue wrote: »

on the 08/**/** being the registered owner of a proppelled Vehicle, reg. number 97***** which was parked at ***********Dublin Dublin a public place in said district court area of Dublin metropolitan District While there was not fic=xed to and exhibited on the vechicle a licence which is both issued in respectof the said vehicle and for the time being in force.


Contrary to Sections 73 (1) and 76 as amended by Section 63 of the Finance Act 1993) of the Finance Act 1997

Simply put , you did not park it there and your passport proves that.

coylemj

Zambia wrote: »

Simply put , you did not park it there and your passport proves that.

The summons doesn't allege that he parked it there, it says that he was the registered owner which as far as I'm aware was the case.

audidiesel

Why did you put the car in your name in the first place. That isn't required to get insured on it.

Fines are paid at the post office not the garda station. This is very clearly highlighted on the back of the fine. Once you have that docket the post office will accept the money once the fines in date. Your friend appears to have been telling you lies about what happened .


Anyways, you shouldn't really need a solicitor for this. Bring proof of your time out of country to court.

Explain that you had been abroad for a year and that it was your friend who had the car not you.
The judge will more than likely dismiss the case and that's it done with.

No Pants

Sell the car. Use proceeds to pay the fines. That'll sort your "friend" out.

Pat Mustard

mr. blue wrote: »

Thanks JeffD tanks for sharing your story : ) Thats a good bit off sound advice . you reckon no Solicitor??! I just don't want to get ****'d on the day ya know but havnt really got the cash to be flinging at a Solicitor.

First, I would suggest that before this matter goes anywhere near court, that you should contact either your local motor tax office or the vehicle registration people in Shannon, or both. You could explain that you are still registered as owner of a vehicle that you have previously transferred. You could ask if they would accept a statutory declaration from you to evidence the fact that the vehicle was transferred by you.

Secondly, I would suggest that you could see a solicitor about the issue of preparing an appropriate statutory declaration. I would think that the cost of preparing a statutory declaration is unlikely to be very high. You can check this.

Thirdly, if you can get the motor tax/vehicle licensing people to give you a letter acknowledging the change of ownership, you could consider showing that to Gardai, in advance of court.

Lastly, it is a matter for yourself whether you wish to represent yourself in court.