Summons after incident accepted as error

2012paddy2012

My ex wife insurance was out a couple of weeks.
She has a work van and doesn’t use car much.
She didn’t get a renewal as she had moved address before renewal was issued. She forgot to inform insurance company/ divorced few months and had moved address as a result, ( stressful times).
Bringing the young lad to a disco in her slippers a few months ago stopped at checkpoint.
Garda accepted her account , she was very upset and shocked. Never in trouble before.

She asked the Garda would he talk to me on the phone. I took call and explained like most husbands I looked after the renewals / paperwork for the last 20 years ... it was a genuine oversight..
he said to me ... and subsequently to her ...
I will accept whet you say ,and as it is a genuine error I propose to deal with it as follows ...
I will seize the car for no insurance.
I will issued a fine on the spot notice for no insurance disc ... car was taxed .... if those fines are paid .. in full and on time , that will be the end of it.
Thought that was very decent until .....
Today .... summons arrive for no insurance in the post .... she drives for a living , now her job is on the line.
She is in an awful state of worry now.
She paid over 250 euro in retrieving the car paying the fixed penalty notice etc produced her licence ....

Question.
Rather than spend the day in court and liar out further financially is it ok to send a letter by registered post to the district court clerk .. that will hand the letter to the judge when the case is called ?

-advice appreciated

The pigeon man

First of all contact a solicitor and get them to represent your wife in court. Not turning up to court will show your wife in less favourable light to the judge.

Don't be worrying about spending money on a solicitor. It's money well spent when you face such a serious charge!

duffman13

Contact the guard and run through your conversation with him. If he's having none of it, engage a decent solicitor. Gardai are generally decent if he remembers the conversation he can pull it on the day

SmartinMartin

duffman13 wrote: »

Contact the guard and run through your conversation with him. If he's having none of it, engage a decent solicitor. Gardai are generally decent if he remembers the conversation he can pull it on the day

This, a thousand times. Cut it off at the pass.

pablo128

It's 5 points for no insurance. I don't think it's an automatic ban.

2012paddy2012

The pigeon man wrote: »

First of all contact a solicitor and get them to represent your wife in court. Not turning up to court will show your wife in less favourable outcome for your wife.

Don't be worrying about spending money on a solicitor. It's money well spent when you face such a serious charge!

Yes I accept that. Money is an issue for her though. I suppose the Garda will have to be cross examined , no way to know if he would accept what a defendant would say on paper if asked by a judge. It’s very bad form to propose to deal with things in a certain way then to do this . Thank you

2012paddy2012

pablo128 wrote: »

It's 5 points for no insurance. I don't think it's an automatic ban.

She needs her licence for her job.
Points may not be looked at favourably either .
Thanks

FishOnABike

If she depends on driving for her work she should make sure she turns up in court in person and has good legal representation (ideally a local solicitor, who is well versed in road traffic legislation and is familiar with the court in which the case is listed).

If you are willing to testify about the circumstances, change of address etc. and that you normally handled insurance renewals previously it might help. Speak to her solicitor beforehand about what might be relevant and how best to present it.

The simple fact is she was driving without insurance and and is essentially looking for leniency.

Consider anything that might help, her family circumstances, dependent on driving for work, impact of a conviction or disqualification, etc.

If she can, show proof of a previously unblemished driving record, no penalty points, continuous insurance over the past number of years, having renewed her insurance as soon as her oversight was discovered, etc. Anything that might convince the court to take as lenient a view as is possible.

And get the advice (and representation on the day) of a good local solicitor who knows road traffic law and knows the particular court.

Worrying about a day off work is being penny wise and pound foolish. The impact of a conviction and/or disqualification would be far more than that of a day off work.

She needs to get sound legal advice on how to minimise the consequences of her error.

2012paddy2012

FishOnABike wrote: »

If she depends on driving for her work she should make sure she turns up in court in person and has good legal representation (ideally a local solicitor, who is well versed in road traffic legislation and is familiar with the court in which the case is listed).

If you are willing to testify about the circumstances, change of address etc. and that you normally handled insurance renewals previously it might help. Speak to her solicitor beforehand about what might be relevant and how best to present it.

The simple fact is she was driving without insurance and and is essentially looking for leniency.

Consider anything that might help, her family circumstances, dependent on driving for work, impact of a conviction or disqualification, etc.

If she can, show proof of a previously unblemished driving record, no penalty points, continuous insurance over the past number of years, having renewed her insurance as soon as her oversight was discovered, etc. Anything that might convince the court to take as lenient a view as is possible.

And get the advice (and representation on the day) if a good local solicitor who knows road traffic law and knows the particular court.

Worrying about a day off work is being penny wise and pound foolish. The impact of a conviction and/or disqualification would be far more than that of a day off work.

She needs to get sound legal advice on how to minimise the consequences of her error.

Good advice thks

Lmklad

duffman13 wrote: »

Contact the guard and run through your conversation with him. If he's having none of it, engage a decent solicitor. Gardai are generally decent if he remembers the conversation he can pull it on the day

Summonses can no longer by pulled by a Garda, that now requires the rank of Inspector or above.

SaltSweatSugar

You can’t get a fixed charge notice for no insurance, that’s a straight summons to court.

No insurance and failure to produce insurance summonses generally go hand in hand.

What offence did she receive the fine for?

seamus

SaltSweatSugar wrote: »

You can’t get a fixed charge notice for no insurance, that’s a straight summons to court.

Failure to display is a fixed charge offence.

Gardai are busy, they talk to a lot of people. What's most likely happened here is that the Garda had good intentions, but when he made the note in his book and then no insurance was produced in 10 days, he had forgotten all about it, and just issued the summons (along with 20 or 30 others).

FishOnABike wrote: »

The simple fact is she was driving without insurance and and is essentially looking for leniency.

A thousand times this.

Your ex-wife needs to be contrite and looking for mercy. She should not be going to the court with a sob story.

I'll just echo what others say here that paying money for a solicitor is money well spent if she can keep her job.

SaltSweatSugar

seamus wrote: »

Failure to display is a fixed charge offence.

Gardai are busy, they talk to a lot of people. What's most likely happened here is that the Garda had good intentions, but when he made the note in his book and then no insurance was produced in 10 days, he had forgotten all about it, and just issued the summons (along with 20 or 30 others).

A thousand times this.

Your ex-wife needs to be contrite and looking for mercy. She should not be going to the court with a sob story.

I'll just echo what others say here that paying money for a solicitor is money well spent if she can keep her job.

I know, but what I meant was she hasn’t received the summons for non display of an insurance disc, it’s for no insurance. She couldn’t have received a FCN for non display without also getting prosecuted for no insurance, unless she had produced a valid insurance cert to prove she had insurance. I didn’t word myself properly.
In an ideal world the Guard should have told her she would be also getting a summons but I fully agree with you.

2012paddy2012

seamus wrote: »

Failure to display is a fixed charge offence.

Gardai are busy, they talk to a lot of people. What's most likely happened here is that the Garda had good intentions, but when he made the note in his book and then no insurance was produced in 10 days, he had forgotten all about it, and just issued the summons (along with 20 or 30 others).

A thousand times this.

Your ex-wife needs to be contrite and looking for mercy. She should not be going to the court with a sob story.

I'll just echo what others say here that paying money for a solicitor is money well spent if she can keep her job.

Agreed thanks