(Probably) wrong time on speeding ticket - challenge worthwhile?

Caspero

Has anyone successfully challenged a speeding ticket where the time on the ticket was incorrect and you could prove that?

Asking for a friend

I've read that if a Garda hasn't calibrated their speeding gun at the correct interval, someone caught speeding with that gun can challenge the ticket successfully if they requested the calibration certificate at the time they were caught.

Wondered whether something similar is true if the time that the Garda recorded for the incident is wrong (by 2 hours in this case). This can be proved - the person in question was teaching a class at the time recorded.

jimbis

Either way your gonna need a good solicitor on your side to fight that so I'd talk to one first.

Isambard

did he have his hat on? Ask you friend ;-)

antodeco

Can you prove at the time of the alleged incident your car was elsewhere?

Caspero

Isambard wrote: »

did he have his hat on? Ask you friend ;-)

Yep he did...is that a thing if he didn't Isambard?

antodeco wrote: »

Can you prove at the time of the alleged incident your car was elsewhere?

Good question - I'm guessing you're suggesting that the court could say someone else was using the car even though the owner can prove they weren't in it. I'll have to ask, but let's assume the answer is yes for now. If so would that be sufficent or would the judge just say - "yeah the Garda just got the time wrong but you're getting the points anyway"?

Dravokivich

Its well known at this stage that you can't challenge the calibration of the devices used to check for speeding. If the only thing your friend has to go by is the challenge the time, I'd expect the judge to get that trivial detail amended once it is clearly your friends vehicle or them that has been captured.

antodeco

Caspero wrote: »

Yep he did...is that a thing if he didn't Isambard?




Good question - I'm guessing you're suggesting that the court could say someone else was using the car even though the owner can prove they weren't in it. I'll have to ask, but let's assume the answer is yes for now. If so would that be sufficent or would the judge just say - "yeah the Garda just got the time wrong but you're getting the points anyway"?

Different answer to the question. It's not that can you prove that YOU were elsewhere at the time, but the CAR. 2 very distinct differences. I'm not telling you to challenge the ticket, but a solicitor would be asking the same thing, if the alleged offence can be proven to not have been possible due to your vehicle being elsewhere at that exact time.

Dravokivich

antodeco wrote: »

Different answer to the question. It's not that can you prove that YOU were elsewhere at the time, but the CAR. 2 very distinct differences. I'm not telling you to challenge the ticket, but a solicitor would be asking the same thing, if the alleged offence can be proven to not have been possible due to your vehicle being elsewhere at that exact time.

One would not be disproving the occurrence of an offence though.

rgodard80a

Tell them the speed reading was off too, that you were going 20kph faster :pac:

A 2 hour time difference might be daylight savings hour differences, maybe an hour on the meter and another hour on whatever generates the tickets/reports from it.

Markcheese

Extra points if the judge doesn't approve though? ... Could get dodgy.!!

TrailerBob

Cost of the fine - 80 lids...

Cost of hiring a solicitor to waste both of your time in the district court fighting a trivial notion that doesn't change the fact that the person was caught speeding... plust the cost of the fine the judge will likely impose - mulitiples of the original 80 lids.

Life is too short to always stick it to the man.. especially if the man just forgot to move the clock back

mickdw

TrailerBob wrote: »

Cost of the fine - 80 lids...

Cost of hiring a solicitor to waste both of your time in the district court fighting a trivial notion that doesn't change the fact that the person was caught speeding... plust the cost of the fine the judge will likely impose - mulitiples of the original 80 lids.

Life is too short to always stick it to the man.. especially if the man just forgot to move the clock back

Still people have to get things right. There is no room for sloppiness in such things and forgetting to change the clock should be enough to have all their fines voided.
If I get the detail wrong in my job, sh1t hits the fan with no simple recovery.

TrailerBob

mickdw wrote: »

Still people have to get things right. There is no room for sloppiness in such things and forgetting to change the clock should be enough to have all their fines voided.
If I get the detail wrong in my job, sh1t hits the fan with no simple recovery.

I completely appreciate your point, and most of the time I would agree, but it seems that there's an awful lot of people who come here looking for sympathetic ears on how to 'get away' with motoring offences on technicalities It's the Facebook style attitude of 'well a Gard can't do ya if he isn't wearing his hat.. I know my rights' nonsense..

And I'm aware of the fact that people have gotten off murder charges for less... Doesn't mean they didn't do it

Caspero

TrailerBob wrote: »

I completely appreciate your point, and most of the time I would agree, but it seems that there's an awful lot of people who come here looking for sympathetic ears on how to 'get away' with motoring offences on technicalities It's the Facebook style attitude of 'well a Gard can't do ya if he isn't wearing his hat.. I know my rights' nonsense..

And I'm aware of the fact that people have gotten off murder charges for less... Doesn't mean they didn't do it

I could make the case that if people do actually challenge minor stuff like this, it'd help to teach the Gardaí to be more detail-oriented so they raise their game for more important stuff (so that people won't be getting off those murder charges you mentioned)...but I'm not going to make that case because I really am asking for a friend! I don't really have a strong opinion one way or another on whether it would actually make them raise their game.