Fine/Summons query

Homer

I did try the search function but couldn't find an answer to my query. Hopefully somebody can answer this! I got stopped by a guard with a handheld radar last August and I was exceeding the speed limit for the area. Hands up and apologised. Handed him my drivers licence and he asked was that my current address. I told him no and gave him my current address which he noted down in his notebook. Off I went on my merry way.

Heard no more until yesterday when post was collected from an old address where I haven't lived for approximately 8/9 years and there was a summons issued to that address for non payment of the original fine! Presume the fine was sent to the old address also. Summons/court date was approximately 3 months ago!!

Where do I stand?! The car I was driving was owned by me and registered to the current address I was living in at the time. Still living there. Same address I gave the guard at the time of the offence.

Would I have been convicted in my absence of the higher amount of penalty points or would they issue a warrant for failing to appear? It wasn't a guard from the local station as far as I'm aware but could be wrong. Was traffic corp.

I was never given the opportunity to pay the original fine which i would have gladly done and obviously wasn't aware of the summons and court date

cml387

Why haven't you updated the address on your driving licence for 8 to 9 years?
That's the problem here.

Homer

I appreciate that! Is it a legal requirement to change everytime you move? For a number of reasons we have moved several times in the last 8-9 years. I did however explain when asked that the address on my licence was not my current one and gave my current address which is where the vehicle was registered?

slimjimmc

The speeding fine is issued to the driver who was stopped not the registered owner so it's the driver's address that is used (so the Garda should have used the correct one). There is no legal obligation to update your licence every time you change address.
The District Court rules allow for the case to go ahead in your absence or a warrant to be issued. I assume you would have heard about the Gardaí coming looking for you at your old address had a warrant been issued.

Homer

Problem is the people who were at the old address probably wouldn't know who I was if the guards called? Would the guards not just look up the registered owners address in the event that they failed to turn up in court for a summons? Would they keep going back to the address on the summons or look up the address on the system for the vehicle? Should I contact a solicitor to sort out the mess?!

km991148

Did you try contacting the police to find out what's going on? Maybe it cna be sorted easy enough?

slimjimmc

Getting a solicitor would be a good idea imo. It might avoid you walking into a worse situation.

Do you think the people who have been holding on to your mail for at least 6 months wouldn't make the link between the name on the mail and the guy a Garda was asking about? The point I'm making is that no news might be good news, relatively speaking. A conviction in your absence would be better in many ways than a warrant for your arrest. Though if you were convicted I would also expect you would have received written notice of any conviction and the penalty points. That's assuming of course that the people at the old address have kept all your mail.

Homer

I was going to contact the guard involved but couldn't find anyway of finding out where they are based? Traffic corp.. I'll contact a solicitor in the morning and hopefully get it resolved. There was no other mail in my name whatsoever at the address, including the original fine or any follow up mail since the court date? Weird one.the tenants who had been there hadn't been paying rent for a considerable period so wouldn't surprise me if they didn't bother to hold onto post or answer the door to the guards if they knocked!

mgbgt1978

cml387 wrote: »

Why haven't you updated the address on your driving licence for 8 to 9 years?
That's the problem here.

I believe that you will find that the problem here is that the guard asked the OP for his current address and then ignored what the OP told him.

mgbgt1978

cml387 wrote: »

Why haven't you updated the address on your driving licence for 8 to 9 years?
That's the problem here.

I believe that you will find that the problem here is that the guard asked the OP for his current address and then ignored what the OP told him.