Bus lane fine

DLE_2D

I moved into a bus lane this morning at 10:00 and a guard pulled me over. When asked why I was in the bus lane and I told him it was 10:00 which the signs said it was only a bus lane from 07:00 - 10:00 and 12:00 - 19:00 so it was legal for me to be in it. He claimed it was 09:59 and gave me a ticket. It's my word against his, and there's only a minute in the difference, would you appeal it or would I be wasting my time?

jimmycrackcorm

DLE_2D wrote: »

I moved into a bus lane this morning at 10:00 and a guard pulled me over. When asked why I was in the bus lane and I told him it was 10:00 which the signs said it was only a bus lane from 07:00 - 10:00 and 12:00 - 19:00 so it was legal for me to be in it. He claimed it was 09:59 and gave me a ticket. It's my word against his, and there's only a minute in the difference, would you appeal it or would I be wasting my time?

Did he write the time down on the ticket because I' d then go to court on it and challenge how he can determine the time so accurately.

TheChizler

This is why I always wait till 10 minutes either side, in case it's claimed you were just under. I'd be surprised if you couldn't contest it, but that's based on practically zero experience.

DLE_2D

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Did he write the time down on the ticket because I' d then go to court on it and challenge how he can determine the time so accurately.

I didn't get the ticket there he said it would be in the post, so will see what info it has when it arrives

frostyjacks

DLE_2D wrote: »

I didn't get the ticket there he said it would be in the post, so will see what info it has when it arrives

He'll have probably put down 9.55 just to make it look less draconian. I'd love for to roll the dice and contest it, but the risk far outweighs the reward.

Carawaystick

I was listening to radio 1 judge and after the news came on I moved into the left lane, like the rules of the road state judge,

savagethegoat

probably didn't want to admit he was wrong, i'd be surprised if that ticket arrived.

Effects

I doubt the ticket will arrive either. As mentioned above, he didn't want to admit being wrong and also won't want the extra paper work of dealing with it.
I used to drive in bus lanes at the wrong times when I was younger. Of the four times I was stopped I only got one ticket from it. They often like to threaten and have you expecting a ticket in the post.

biko

Wait for ticket to arrive before you start worrying.

Allinall

Carawaystick wrote: »

I was listening to radio 1 judge and after the news came on I moved into the left lane, like the rules of the road state judge,

Lie in court?

Not good advice.

biko

Tbh, it's your word against the Garda's, and your watch against his/hers.

Effects

biko wrote: »

Tbh, it's your word against the Garda's, and your watch against his/hers.

Generally the word of the Garda is held in higher regard than the person in the dock.

Oafley Jones

Is there an cctv footage near the area that you could get. Time stamp should prove your case.

biko

By a minute? Not likely unless the cctv is connected to an atomic clock
Do let us know how you get OP, this could be interesting.

TheChizler

biko wrote: »

By a minute? Not likely unless the cctv is connected to an atomic clock
Do let us know how you get OP, this could be interesting.

Wouldn't be all too uncommon. If the CCTV has a network connection we could be talking microseconds.

Effects

Wouldn't it be easier just to pay a €40 fine than try and to locate cctv to prove your case.

ironclaw

TheChizler wrote: »

Wouldn't be all too uncommon. If the CCTV has a network connection we could be talking microseconds.

True. Most systems are connected to the same time servers than you Windows machine or iPhone sync with. They are accurate.

Effects wrote: »

Wouldn't it be easier just to pay a €40 fine than try and to locate cctv to prove your case.

€40 is worth the leg work. You'll quickly know if you review the route. Someone might have CCTV on the office block or house. Honestly, if it meant sticking a Garda for 1 minute, I'd put a weeks worth into proving it.

@OP, time for a DVR or Tracker!

freddieot

If you could produce evidence that his watch was wrong, all his cases would fall down for that day and perhaps not just the traffic ones.

It would need to be CCTV with a link to internet. Finding that when only a minute is involved might be an issue. It would need to be covering the place you were stopped. Even a record of you slightly before the stop would not show how long you took to move from that area to where you were actually stopped even if only a hundred yards away.

DLE_2D

Cheers everyone, I'll let you know if the ticket arrives and what time he put on it.

ironclaw

DLE_2D wrote: »

Cheers everyone, I'll let you know if the ticket arrives and what time he put on it.

If you want to go down the CCTV route, be sure to check it out within the next few days. Some places don't keep footage all that long and Data Protection kicks in after I believe 1 month, hence if you need to retrieve the footage, do it now.

com1

Ah yes but what if the Guard was right and the OP wrong. That could be a bit embarrassing in front of a Judge...


OP: Judge, I didn't move into the bus lane until the RTE R1 10:00 news started, so there!"


Guard: We checked and the RTE 10:00 news started at 09:57 that morning!


Judge: Guilty... and double everything and an extra €1,000 for wasting the courts time, harrumph


*very unlikely scenario and I am not saying that the OP would testify as such. Probably wont get a ticket anyway