Summons and holidays booked

hanniffy1701

Hi,
I have 4 summons all going to be thrown out according to solicitor as the Guard summons me for no Insurance when I did and Not producing it and same with driving licence and all are in statements that they were produced.

Cut a long story short I got summons for the 4th of Febuary and I am away on holidays from the 2nd-4th and can not attend is there anything I can do.

Tried to contact solictor but away till late next week

biko

I suppose it's too late now but contact guard in case. If they decide to not pursue it then they may inform judge.

This above is just a guess from my side. Once it's gone to summons you may be required to go through with it and appear in count.

hanniffy1701

biko wrote: »

I suppose it's too late now but contact guard in case. If they decide to not pursue it then they may inform judge.

This above is just a guess from my side. Once it's gone to summons you may be required to go through with it and appear in count.

Ya hoping not only got it today very short notice to be honest

Atlantic Dawn

Contact tha garda or else it's a case of how much is the holiday worth and how much is it going to cost to put a solicitor in court to represent you in your absense.

Stinicker

If you are going to get four summonses thrown out for whatever alleged wrongdoing then you should definitely be in court IMO.

whiskeyman

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Contact tha garda or else it's a case of how much is the holiday worth and how much is it going to cost to put a solicitor in court to represent you in your absense.

This happened to me.
The Garda never responded to many attempts at contacting him, so I had to resort to just getting a solicitor to represent me.
Wasn't going to miss a holiday because of it.

coylemj

If you're paying a solicitor to appear for you (waste of money) and you have statements saying that the documents were produced then make sure the solicitor brings those documents to court and go on your holiday. In most cases of this type, people send a family member rather than a solicitor to court, individual Gardai who appear in the courts dealing with run of the mill RTA summons are well used to being pulled aside before the court by mothers and fathers who produce licence and insurance to show that their son or daughter was covered on the relevant date but simply forget to produce within 10 days in which case when the case is called the Garda asks the judge to strike out the charges.

If I was you I'd give the statements to a family member, tell them to show them to the Garda on the day and tell the solicitor you don't want him/her to go to court, will probably save you the guts of €200. If you don't need your driving licence and/or insurance on holiday then let them take them to court as well to 100% prove that you were covered to drive on the day. That person does not have to stand up in front of the judge and say anything, the Garda will simply say that statements have been produced to prove that the documents were produced and there is no case to answer, the judge will then dismiss all four summons.

Contacting the Garda beforehand is risky because there's no guarantee that they will make a proper note of what you tell them, you need to send someone on the day but a solicitor is completely OTT if you have the documents and everything is in order.

Stephenc66

The court will want to see prof of the license and insurance in court unless the Garda has had sight of them beforehand and is happy to tell the Judge that they are in order and he may then ask for those summonses to be struck out.

I went through this a couple of months ago with my daughter when she didn't produce. In this case we talked to the Garda in question on the morning of the court. By which I mean she showed him the documents and apologized for wasting his time. The Garda communicated to the judge he was happy that she had a license and the insurance was in place and that she had apologized. The charges were struck out.

On the failure to produce she hadn't and was fined.

As you say you did produce and if you have evidence that doesn't require you being there.

I don't see why your solicitor couldn't do this for you. He may already have everything he needs.

I have seen lots of cases in the district court for traffic offences that people were not in court personally but represented by a solicitor.

coylemj

Stephenc66 wrote: »

I don't see why your solicitor couldn't do this for you. He may already have everything he needs.

I'll tell you why, because what your daughter was fined (please tell us) for failing to produce wouldn't come anywhere near what it will cost to send a solicitor to represent you. The OP can send a family member to court to show the statements to the prosecuting Garda which not alone show that he had a licence and insurance but that he did produce them.

I'd certainly send a solicitor to court if I had no insurance but if it's simply a case of showing the Garda the documents that you forgot to produce, a solicitor is a waste of money.

Stephenc66

coylemj wrote: »

I'll tell you why, because what your daughter was fined (please tell us) for failing to produce wouldn't come anywhere near what it will cost to send a solicitor to represent you. The OP can send a family member to court to show the statements to the prosecuting Garda which not alone show that he had a licence and insurance but that he did produce them.

I'd certainly send a solicitor to court if I had no insurance but if it's simply a case of showing the Garda the documents that you forgot to produce, a solicitor is a waste of money.

She was fined €200 for failing to produce and not paying a speeding fine. It was being stopped speeding that resulted in her being asked to produce. You may be correct and if there was not a matter of failing to pay a speeding fine then the failing to produce might have incurred a much smaller fine.

By all means a family member could go and as long as there is nothing to be contested in the statements, original documents are produced and the Garda is happy with what he sees all should be ok.

I was merely suggesting the OPs solicitor could represent him as he appears to already have spoken with the solicitor and has already received advice. Which I would think he will be charged for.

coylemj

Stephenc66 wrote: »

She was fined €200 for failing to produce and not paying a speeding fine. It was being stopped speeding that resulted in her being asked to produce. You may be correct and if there was not a matter of failing to pay a speeding fine then the failing to produce might have incurred a much smaller fine.

She got a letter from the District Court telling her how much she was fined for each offence. If she checks that letter I think you'll find that the fine(s) for failing to produce wouldn't buy you 10 minutes of a solicitor's time. More likely the judge took a short cut, imposed the €200 fine for the speeding offence and struck out the summons for failing to produce.

Stephenc66 wrote: »

I was merely suggesting the OPs solicitor could represent him as he appears to already have spoken with the solicitor and has already received advice. Which I would think he will be charged for.

You mean the fee for a consultation in the solicitor's office includes a free appearance in the local District Court? Don't think so.

kneemos

Failing to produce is an offence in itself.
If you're there you'll probably get off,if not I'd expect a fine.

testicle

kneemos wrote: »

Failing to produce is an offence in itself.
If you're there you'll probably get off,if not I'd expect a fine.

Did you read the OP at all? Specifically the bit where he said he did produce.