Paying a speeding fine - Help

timmy880

Hi all,

Don't know if this is the right forum but will give it a go hoping for a response. So I was caught doing 69 kilometres an hour where the speed changes from 80km to 60km on the N4 when I was turning off for M50 South bound. Frustrating as the speeding van was sitting right where the speed limit changes and I was slowing down but that's life, I don't have the energy to argue.

Anyway I moved home recently and they sent the penalty points notice and form to pay the fine to my old address - it got past on to me but slight delay. I filled out the form quickly and made a silly error so again they send it back to me (at this point I've already exceeded the time limit to pay the first fine of €80 and it's gone up to €120 but my error caused that so no arguments) so I filled out again very carefully making sure everything was correct so I can pay the fine and be done with this as it was stressing me out. Last week they send it back to my old address and its passed on to me again and the letter says the name on the system doesn't match the driver licence number. My sister and brother in law are guards so I asked them and they said because my middle names (I have 2) are on my licence and I didn't put that in the form, that it comes up as a mismatch and now I will get a court summons.....

Am I losing my mind or is this a bit daft? Is there anything I can do to stop this? I did everything I could to get this paid properly!

Stheno

If you miss the deadline for paying there is nothing you can do but wait and see if you get sent a summons

Cushie Butterfield

Have you rang the phone numer on the letter & asked them?

Probably best if you do just so as you know.

Either way make sure you keep all correspondence for court should it come to that.

You should also update your address on your motor tax/vehicle registration cert & driver's licence to avoid any future delays in receiving letters/summonses.

ironclaw

If it goes to court, and provided you can show correspondence, it will be no issue. You made reasonable effort. Could be wrong but some people have approached the clerk / Garda before the trial, and didn't even have to stand before the judge.

timmy880

Thanks for the responses.... I'll keep a copy of everything! Should I still fill out the form again with my middle names and send it back though? That's my only real decision now...

Chimaera

Out of curiosity, why didn't you just go to the post office to pay it?

timmy880

Chimaera wrote: »

Out of curiosity, why didn't you just go to the post office to pay it?

I didn't even know that this was an option.....

Alot of lessons learnt in this little episode!

Cushie Butterfield

timmy880 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.... I'll keep a copy of everything! Should I still fill out the form again with my middle names and send it back though? That's my only real decision now...

That's what I would do.

timmy880

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

That's what I would do.

Thanks, I'll do that. Does anybody know how I can change my address with them? Are they using the address that my tax disc gets sent to?

Chimaera

I'd confirm with your Garda relatives what the situation with paying the fine at this point is: you may end up having to go to court anyway.

The address that's used is the registered address of the vehicle. Until you have this updated and have a new VRC, all correspondence on this will continue to go to your old address.

Cushie Butterfield

timmy880 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll do that. Does anybody know how I can change my address with them? Are they using the address that my tax disc gets sent to?

If your address has changed, fill in the appropriate details on the Vehicle Licensing Certificate (Vehicle Registration Certificate for post-April 2004 vehicles) and send it to the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division.

Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
Shannon Town Centre
Shannon
Clare
Ireland

Tel:(061) 365 000
Locall:1890 411 412

As regards paying the fine, why dont you ring the number on the last letter you got & get talking to someone?

Sometimes things can be avoided simply by talking to a human. You can't be the first person to fill in the wrong details & won't be the last. They are the ones inputting data onto the system which eventually spits out details of people who haven't paid, so might at least be able to input a later payment due date on the system. That might have already been done in your case seeing as you attempted to pay. You might be worrying about nothing, but the only way to find out for sure is if you contact them directly, explain what has happened & take it from there.