FCN with misspelt name

Cuttlefish

A "friend" of mine just received a fixed charge fine for holding a mobile phone while driving!

His christian name is not what appears on his driving licence - the garda omitted a letter from his name

Question - is it worth appealing the fine or should he just forget about the error and pay the fine?

Does he have grounds for the fine to be struck out?

nuac

Mod
Suggest you consult a solicitor practising in that area. Leaving open for general discussion subject to forum rule on legal advice

Cuttlefish

nuac wrote: »

Mod
Suggest you consult a solicitor practising in that area. Leaving open for general discussion subject to forum rule on legal advice

Am wondering has it ever happened to other Boards.ie members

Mod
Comments on mod directions should be made by PM rather than inthread.
District Judges often vary in their interpretation of the law. That is why I suggested contacting a solicitor practising in that DC area

Kimbot

Regardless of a misspelt name, if he done the crime then he should just pay up. An appeal could cost him more.

Effects

Cuttlefish wrote: »

Does he have grounds for the fine to be struck out?

Double the fine and points in court hopefully.

AlanG

This happened my friend. The post office could not process the payment as the name did not match what was on his license. That was about 8 years ago but at the time he was told to forget about it as it was not a valid notice. Nothing more came of it.

FishOnABike

From what I can remember from various threads it could either be thrown out on a technicality or if not paid and it went to court the court could allow it to be corrected on the day.

Which happens could depend on the judge, your solicitor, how significant the misspelling was, what way the wind was blowing, who knows. You take your chances and you pay the consequences. If you want to chance it, make sure it's based on sound legal advice.

GavMan

I found myself in the same position about 10 years ago. I went to pay the FCPN and An Post couldn't process it because the notice didn't match up with the license.

Ultimately it went to court and the judge dismissed it. Take from that what you will.

hullaballoo

Notwithstanding that the above posts are correct regarding the direction of the wind on the day in question, there's also a vast difference between someone who attempts to pay a FCPN in good faith but can't and someone who makes no attempt to pay because there's a typo on the notice.

The person who attempted to pay would nearly always have the summons struck out (and, if not, a very arguable appeal). The person who made no attempt to pay may find the District Judge is less enthusiastic about the benefit of the doubt.

FishOnABike

GavMan wrote: »

I found myself in the same position about 10 years ago. I went to pay the FCPN and An Post couldn't process it because the notice didn't match up with the license.

Ultimately it went to court and the judge dismissed it. Take from that what you will.

Unfortunately the district court doesn't set any legal precedents. A different judge, or the same judge on a different day could decide to throw the book at someone in the same circumstances.

Unless there's a High Court precedent that a spelling mistake in the name voids a FCN you can take your chances.

If you are unable to pay a FCN because of an error in the name (and evidence that you tried to pay) that might open some argument for it to be struck out in court or at least reverted to the original FCN penalty (with costs).

I doubt you'll get any 100% guarantees of what the outcome will be for any particular course of action.

Cuttlefish

For the record an attempt to pay the FCN will be done this week.

If it can't be paid for an anomaly as such what should he do? Should he ask for it to be corrected?

Lmklad

Cuttlefish wrote: »

For the record an attempt to pay the FCN will be done this week.

If it can't be paid for an anomaly as such what should he do? Should he ask for it to be corrected?

Write to the FCN office and include a copy of your drivers license. They will either cancel it or reissue it.