Court summons

leftfinger

today I received a court summons for speeding back in April.
when i was pulled over on the motorway the garda said that i would get a 80 euro fine and 3 points which i dont deny and would have paid if received

i never received anything about a fine or points i was doing 141km on the motorway
what i am really worried about is that i am being summoned for this and not the not payment of the fine which i didn't receive as the summons only mentions exceeding the speed limit.

i have never been fined for speeding before or summoned to court and i have no idea what to do.


what i did notice is that the registered letter only has my the first line of my address and my county on it not my full address. it doesn't even have my area on it

this is also all that is on the summons letter itself.

i'm also worried that with so many people saying that they did not receive the fine letter that this may go against me would the letter having only the first line of my address be helpful with this?

Stheno

What does the summons say the exact offence is?

conorh91

leftfinger wrote: »

twould the letter having only the first line of my address be helpful with this?

No. It's no more relevant than the colour of the registered envelope it arrived in.

leftfinger

Stheno wrote: »

What does the summons say the exact offence is?

of the summons itself it reads:

on the "date" at "road" did drive a mechanically propelled vehicle "reg number" at a speed which exceeded the motorway speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour applicable to the said road by virtue of section 8 of the road traffic act 2004.

contrary to section 47 of the road traffic act 1961 (as inserted by section 11 of the road traffic act 2004) and section 102 of the road traffic act 1961 (as amended by section 18 of the road traffic act 2006)

Stheno

leftfinger wrote: »

of the summons itself it reads:

on the "date" at "road" did drive a mechanically propelled vehicle "reg number" at a speed which exceeded the motorway speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour applicable to the said road by virtue of section 8 of the road traffic act 2004.

contrary to section 47 of the road traffic act 1961 (as inserted by section 11 of the road traffic act 2004) and section 102 of the road traffic act 1961 (as amended by section 18 of the road traffic act 2006)

Looks like they've decided to take you to court rather than issuing the fine, or else think you didn't pay the fine.

You could ring up the penalty points office and see do they have a record of sending it out?

leftfinger

conorh91 wrote: »

No. It's no more relevant than the colour of the registered envelope it arrived in.

why not there are a number of other houses in the city which have the same first line of my address.
typing the first line of my address into the eirecode site i get 4 other addresses besides mine

my full address is on my license it would seem that the Garda did not take down the full address which could be why i did not receive the fine notice. which i would have paid had i received it

xabi

This happened me before, flashed on N7 but never received fine, then got summons. Got a solicitor to represent me in court and explain the situation, judge dismissed it no issues.

leftfinger

Stheno wrote: »

Looks like they've decided to take you to court rather than issuing the fine, or else think you didn't pay the fine.

You could ring up the penalty points office and see do they have a record of sending it out?

thank you

i will ring them in the morning and see i assume that is no way of paying the fine now if it was issued?

as i would rather not go to court

leftfinger

xabi wrote: »

This happened me before, flashed on N7 but never received fine, then got summons. Got a solicitor to represent me in court and explain the situation, judge dismissed it no issues.

any idea on what kind of cost it would be for a solicitor to appear in court for me?

Ive never had to deal with a solicitor before

Stheno

leftfinger wrote: »

thank you

i will ring them in the morning and see i assume that is no way of paying the fine now if it was issued?

as i would rather not go to court

No, once the 56 day notice period for paying the fine is up there is no way to pay it

Solicitor would be 1-200 euro for the day, probably closer to the 200 but may well save you that in a fine, and the five points you'll get in court if found guilty

Fine in court is up to 1000e

leftfinger

Stheno wrote: »

No, once the 56 day notice period for paying the fine is up there is no way to pay it

Solicitor would be 1-200 euro for the day, probably closer to the 200 but may well save you that in a fine, and the five points you'll get in court if found guilty

Fine in court is up to 1000e

Thank you

Would any solicitor do or is there a specific type of one?

Stheno

leftfinger wrote: »

Thank you

Would any solicitor do or is there a specific type of one?

I'd say pretty much any solicitor will do it.

Sometimes on here people advise to go to the court and see what solicitors are there on traffic offences days, and speak to one of them

MarkAnthony

Stheno wrote: »

I'd say pretty much any solicitor will do it.

Sometimes on here people advise to go to the court and see what solicitors are there on traffic offences days, and speak to one of them

More likely to be willing to do it for a few quid, but you wont get chance to haggle (much ask around on the day).

Take Cash (joking!)

ohnonotgmail

leftfinger wrote: »

why not there are a number of other houses in the city which have the same first line of my address.
typing the first line of my address into the eirecode site i get 4 other addresses besides mine

my full address is on my license it would seem that the Garda did not take down the full address which could be why i did not receive the fine notice. which i would have paid had i received it

and yet somehow the letter got to you.

MarkAnthony

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

and yet somehow the letter got to you.

Must be the introduction of Eircodes!

To be fair though it's four addresses 25% chance the first time, 25% the next time. Maybe it was just luck.

I need to slow down on the motorway.

Stheno

MarkAnthony wrote: »

I need to slow down on the motorway.

Which one ?

I'm on the M1 regularly, was on it yesterday, it's closed southbound at Dundalk with a massive diversion.

Once you come off the motorway there were about 10 cops manning a checkpoint/frantically waving everyone along.

You've just reminded me I'm up and down it for the rest of the week.

That diversion is adding a good ten minutes to my trip home each day.

Anyway @ OP best of luck. Btw even if you engage a solicitor, it will be to your benefit to also turn up with the solicitor

ohnonotgmail

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Must be the introduction of Eircodes!

To be fair though it's four addresses 25% chance the first time, 25% the next time. Maybe it was just luck.

I need to slow down on the motorway.

or a postman who knew his job.

xabi

leftfinger wrote: »

any idea on what kind of cost it would be for a solicitor to appear in court for me?

Ive never had to deal with a solicitor before

As far as I remember it was ~120 Euro, around what the fine would have been, minus the points though

MarkAnthony

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

or a postman who knew his job.

Maybe that one was off the first time, may be he/she had a cold?

MarkAnthony

Stheno wrote: »

Which one ?

I'm on the M1 regularly, was on it yesterday, it's closed southbound at Dundalk with a massive diversion.

Once you come off the motorway there were about 10 cops manning a checkpoint/frantically waving everyone along.

You've just reminded me I'm up and down it for the rest of the week.

That diversion is adding a good ten minutes to my trip home each day.

Anyway @ OP best of luck. Btw even if you engage a solicitor, it will be to your benefit to also turn up with the solicitor

Not on them that often but when I do it's in the outside lane* and it's not at 120.

Outside lane is used for overtaking only, overtaking is frequently done I'm not afraid to pull back in when I see someone going even faster than me. Other terms and conditions may apply. Lord Mayor of Cork is a naughty boy, or at least his driver is - how do I know this? I followed the sod once and he wasn't doing 120 either :pac:

conorh91

leftfinger wrote: »

why not there are a number of other houses in the city which have the same first line of my address.

Even if so, what's the relevance?

There is no question of the violation of your constitutional rights that I have seen, nor the subsequent inadmissibility of evidence. These topics are relevant to search warrants, for example.

But not registered court summonses that a person admits having received in the first place.

leftfinger

conorh91 wrote: »

Even if so, what's the relevance?

i never received the fine notice and am now being summoned to court
if the garda had taken down the address in the first place i would had received the fine and paid it and that would be that.

leftfinger

Stheno wrote: »

Anyway @ OP best of luck. Btw even if you engage a solicitor, it will be to your benefit to also turn up with the solicitor

thank you

MarkAnthony

leftfinger wrote: »

i never received the fine notice and am now being summoned to court
if the garda had taken down the address in the first place i would had received the fine and paid it and that would be that.

One does have to examine the otherside of that which is if you weren't speeding, no issue and when court there was no proactivity on your part in masking sure everything got to you, perhaps with a hope that it would go away, or perhaps not. Especially as you were 'on notice' of the fact that your address is problematic unless taken down properly, again perhaps - one more cynical than I might put it to you that that might have been your cunning and nefarious plan all along!

leftfinger

MarkAnthony wrote: »

One does have to examine the otherside of that which is if you weren't speeding, no issue and when court there was no proactivity on your part in masking sure everything got to you, perhaps with a hope that it would go away, or perhaps not. Especially as you were 'on notice' of the fact that your address is problematic unless taken down properly, again perhaps - one more cynical than I might put it to you that that might have been your cunning and nefarious plan all along!

who is actually going to ring up wondering where the fine is?

i wasn't on any notice that my address is problematic i handed the garda my license
which has my correct address he asked if it was my current address i said yes
and he took down the details. one would reasonably assume that a member of the gardai would be able to correctly copy a printed address on a license.

or even if not maybe check the address against the one my car is registered at


i would think that anyone's address is problematic if you only take down the first line and county.
sending a letter to

1 corner terrace
Dublin

that letter could go to any number of houses i would imagine.

conorh91

leftfinger wrote: »

i never received the fine notice and am now being summoned to court
if the garda had taken down the address in the first place i would had received the fine and paid it and that would be that.

Apologies I thought you were implying the summons was invalid on its face, i.e. had no legal effect.

What I meant by saying it doesn't matter is that you'll have to go to the district Court on the day of the prosecution and explain. It's not uncommon for judges to accept claims of postage problems if the person is willing to pay the fine and has accepted wrongdoing, even where there is no problem with an address on the Garda record.

MarkAnthony

leftfinger wrote: »

who is actually going to ring up wondering where the fine is?

Really? I would say any one who purports to believe it's a fair cop as you did in your OP. I certainly would given I know the next step is court and I'd prefer to pay the fine unless I wished to contest it.

leftfinger wrote: »

i wasn't on any notice that my address is problematic i handed the garda my license
which has my correct address he asked if it was my current address i said yes
and he took down the details. one would reasonably assume that a member of the gardai would be able to correctly copy a printed address on a license.

Perhaps, perhaps not. Judge will certainly have an opinion, I actually genuinely hope it goes in your favour.

leftfinger wrote: »

or even if not maybe check the address against the one my car is registered at


i would think that anyone's address is problematic if you only take down the first line and county.
sending a letter to

1 corner terrace
Dublin

that letter could go to any number of houses i would imagine.

Not if you put the very efficient and working postcode (as distinct from the Eircode) on it. :pac:

horsebox7

Hi. What happened in the end?