What happens when you are asked to produce a full driving license at a garda station

lifeandtimes

Hey

Just curious can anyone tell me what happens if a learner driver is stopped driving and say they have a full.license but don't and are asked to produce it at a garda station?

Also follow up,say they are stopped with another learner permit holder as a passanger and the passanger says they have a full one and are asked to produce it?

What can be expected at the garda station?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Little CuChulainn

They'll also probably flag your car for other Gardaí to indicate you drive without a full licence and tell porkies.

endacl

I suppose you'd have been caught chancing your arm.

Hypothetically, of course.

Losty Dublin

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95812646

You don't seem to take road traffic laws all that seriously, do you ?

lifeandtimes wrote: »

Hey

Just curious can anyone tell me what happens if a learner driver is stopped driving and say they have a full.license but don't and are asked to produce it at a garda station?

Also follow up,say they are stopped with another learner permit holder as a passanger and the passanger says they have a full one and are asked to produce it?

What can be expected at the garda station?

lifeandtimes

Fred Swanson wrote: »

The station will just record the fact that a learners permit was produced. The Garda that asked you to produce will check with the station to see what if anything was produced.

I would expect a few summonses at the very least.

Thanks for your reply

lifeandtimes

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

They'll also probably flag your car for other Gardaí to indicate you drive without a full licence and tell porkies.

Thanks for your reply

lifeandtimes

endacl wrote: »

I suppose you'd have been caught chancing your arm.

Hypothetically, of course.

No I havnt,just curious and sure if I don't ask how would I find out 😉

lifeandtimes

Losty Dublin wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95812646

You don't seem to take road traffic laws all that seriously, do you ?

I take them very seriously,im curious and havnt done anything wrong, how is asking questions not taking something seriously? Also if your not going to answer my question and make an assumption please don't post here thanks

Larbre34

Road Traffic Act

40.—(1) (a) A member of the Garda Síochána may demand, of a person driving in a public place a mechanically propelled vehicle or accompanying pursuant to regulations under this Act the holder of a provisional licence while such holder is driving in a public place a mechanically propelled vehicle, the production of a driving licence then having effect and licensing him to drive the vehicle, and if such person refuses or fails to produce the licence there and then, he shall, unless within ten days after the date on which the production was demanded he produces such licence in person to a member of the Garda Síochána at a Garda Síochána station to be named by such person at the time at which the production was so demanded, be guilty of an offence.

(b) In a prosecution for an offence under this subsection, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown by the defendant, that he did not, within ten days after the day on which the production was demanded, produce a driving licence in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection.

The degree of offence will be determined by a district court judge when you are summonsed, but if you have bullsh1tted a Garda, prepare for the hair dryer, and a lighter pocket, and really quite expensive motor insurance, unless your willing to bullsh1t them too of course.

Losty Dublin

lifeandtimes wrote: »

I take them very seriously,im curious and havnt done anything wrong, how is asking questions not taking something seriously? Also if your not going to answer my question and make an assumption please don't post here thanks

I don't want to flame this but based on the above link you may not hold a licence, be it full or learner permit, and yet you still want to drive and attempt to be insured. Also, you are asking questions about producing driving documents when required to. Forgive my cynicism but either you have been stopped and are worried or you want to chance your arm

If you are driving without a valid licence or insurance and stopped and asked to produce same by a Garda, you can expect a day in court if all is not in order.

CramCycle

Depends on the Garda, if your lucky, they may not check up thoroughly, if the system works, you will be up in court with a hefty fine and a list of offenses.

lifeandtimes

Losty Dublin wrote: »

I don't want to flame this but based on the above link you may not hold a licence, be it full or learner permit, and yet you still want to drive and attempt to be insured. Also, you are asking questions about producing driving documents when required to. Forgive my cynicism but either you have been stopped and are worried or you want to chance your arm

If you are driving without a valid licence or insurance and stopped and asked to produce same by a Garda, you can expect a day in court if all is not in order.

Ok thanks for your input..is this response expected for scenario two also? I.e accompanying an learner permit with a learner permit and then being asked to produce a full license at a garda station?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Losty Dublin

lifeandtimes wrote: »

Ok thanks for your input..is this response expected for scenario two also? I.e accompanying an learner permit with a learner permit and then being asked to produce a full license at a garda station?

Your accompanying driver has to have a full licence. If they are asked to produce full licence and are unable to, well both of you may well be in a pickle.

lifeandtimes

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Yes.

Once it is discovered the correct documents were not produced, summonses will issue.

Thanks Fred swanson,pretty much what I was asking for...I had heard different scenarios and thought it would be best to ask here.

Heard a guy get lucky once as he was stopped in Cork and was from dublin,he was a passanger and said he had a full,was asked to produce a full at his local station he went and produced a learner permit,they took note of it and nothing ever arose from it.

But I guess he got lucky or the guard couldn't have been arsed who knows

hullaballoo

In the olden days (about 2 years ago), this wasn't taken as seriously because it wasn't worth the Gardaí time to pursue then provisionally licensed drivers. The worst that would happen after dragging someone to court was a smallish fine.

Now, the legislation exists so that people who are not capable of driving unsupervised can be appropriately punished for putting themselves and other road users at risk. Big fines and driving bans. The story you heard undoubted predates the changes.

The old system was a joke shop. You could fail your test spectacularly and then drive yourself home no problem. I arrived for my test alone on both attempts and there wasn't even a vague remark about it. That doesn't happen now, you must have a suitably qualified driver to your test. I was asked to produce my licence when accompanying someone. Not everyone else was, admittedly but it's not worth the risk, imo.

Chemical Byrne

But do the Guard on the beat always check back with the station to see was such and such produced?
Would a lot of gaurds not be very busy and just not bother following up? Or else they might be just not bothered their hole to follow up. Does this happen?

I had to bring it in one time a few years back and yer wan at the desk was all like "Wha? Oh, yeah, sure that's grand. Good luck now". I was thinking I'd have to sing some form or something to say I'd brought it. Didn't ask my name and address or anything. To me it seemed like she just fobbed it off as an inconvenience to whatever she was doing at the time.

hullaballoo

hullaballoo wrote: »

I arrived for my test alone on both attempts and there wasn't even a vague remark about it. That doesn't happen now.

No... that's still the way that works.


Which is good, in my opinion, but won't go down that route with the thread.


OP; If you've no full license and are driving alone, and that's all that's happening offence-wise, then chances are the Garda couldn't give a toss. More than likely he/she's on top of their head with other things or falling behind on paperwork because they have to do the checkpoint in the first place.

I doubt they'll care.

That said, if what you were doing was accompanied by other problems (tax out, no insurance, giving lip to the garda, etc.) then you'll find they will be more likely to check up.


I think most Gardai realise the impracticalities of needing a full licensed driver with you, and therefore don't really fuss over it. I think it's something that they're more likely to use against you if you start giving attitude and they want to nail you with as much as they can (scumbags, in other words).

hullaballoo

Two people were imprisoned for this offence in 2014 and well over 600 fines were issued by the Courts.

It's well publicised that there has been a clamp-down on learner permit drivers over the past few years - mostly at the behest of the EU but nonetheless adequately codified here and it is being enforced. It's just not a risk worth taking now as against a couple of years ago.

KKV, I'm not sure if you're just too far removed from learning to drive as it is now or what but your post suggests you believe there is no such thing as the very creatively named "Operation Learner Driver."

hullaballoo

hullaballoo wrote: »

Two people were imprisoned for this offence in 2014 and well over 600 fines were issued by the Courts.

It's well publicised that there has been a clamp-down on learner permit drivers over the past few years - mostly at the behest of the EU but nonetheless adequately codified here and it is being enforced. It's just not a risk worth taking now as against a couple of years ago.

KKV, I'm not sure if you're just too far removed from learning to drive as it is now or what but your post suggests you believe there is no such thing as the very creatively named "Operation Learner Driver."

I passed my test less than two years ago (and have been driving about 2.5 years in total) so I'd consider myself to be still fairly clued into the workings of the learner process.

I drove to the test centre unaccompanied. No one cared.

I'm not saying the Gardai won't do you for it. But I'd been at about 3 checkpoints (thats a bit of a guess, to be fair) when I was a learner and it was never mentioned. Unless you give them a reason to take interest in you, I find that they (the Gardai) generally are reasonable enough to realise that it's not realistic to expect someone to have a fully licensed driver with them at all times.

For me personally, as someone who passed their test on the first go, it was driving alone (usually at night) that got me up to scratch (and an excellent driving instructor, of course, but that goes without saying).