Mistake On Speeding Ticket

andrew1977

Hi Folks

Was travelling to work from Drogheda to Cork on the 17th August, Gardai stopped me for speeding at Glanmire outside Cork @ approx 8.30am
Garda took my license back to the police car,came back to me and said a Fixed Charge Offence would be issued to be by post in the coming weeks, 80 Euro fine and 2 penalty points
The fine arrived today , the date which i was caught speeding is correct but the time of the offence says 21:34pm ...but the stopped me @ approx 8.30am in the morning ??

What could have caused this error on the fine ? Am i able to dispute this now becuase at 21.34pm i was in the hotel bar ,not driving the car
Is it worth the hassle to try and fight this on a technicality or is it better off just paying the fine ??
Also if i decline to pay the fine on time,will my summons to court be in a local Cork court or in my home town of Drogheda
To have to go back down to Cork and not get the case dismissed might just be too much expense for me taking into account solicitor costs etc and 4 penalty points instead of 2 if i pay the fine on time
Anyones opinion greatly appreciated
thanks

seamus

Well technically the ticket is incorrect because you weren't caught speeding at that time. Usually when there's a mistake on the ticket, the matter is struck out. But you will have to go to court for that. I'm not sure where the summons will be for, but I suspect it'll be in Cork.

You may better off finding a solicitor that you can get some quick, free advice from.

Seth Brundle

The offence notice states that you were speeding at that time. You were not. If the gardai want to pursue you for speeding at 8am then thats another matter.
However, can you prove that you were in the hotel bar at that time?
i would contact the garda involved and get him to confirm that he was not working on that night and request that he cancel that letter.

andrew1977

cheers for the replies folks

I dont have the Gardas name ,i never took a note of it when i was stopped speeding, it doesnt mention it either on the speeding ticket which arrived today
I reckon i could prove i was in the hotel at the time in questions, was eating and drinking there and signing bar tabs with each drink up until about 11pm .
Have to visit my solictior tomorrow regarding contracts on a new house,will mention this to him and get his opinion
Dont fancy the trip back down to Cork to fight it, god knows how much i would have to pay my solicitor to come down with me ,
thanks for the pointers !!

Spocker

You didn't specifically state it in your post OP, but I presume you were speeding when caught. Pay the fine, take the points and chalk it up to experience rather than trying to wriggle out on a technicality...

*me gets down now from moral high horse....

Guy:Incognito

It's probably best to just pay it and be rid. How much will it cost to take time off work, travel to and from cork, eat /drink for the day, plus the whole pain in the ass of it. Not worth the bother imo.

Could they end up strikeing it out and then issueing him with a new ticket for the correct time?

testicle

Stekelly wrote:

Could they end up strikeing it out and then issueing him with a new ticket for the correct time?

No

junkyard

I got caught speeding some time ago and when I got my summons there was a digit left short on the registration number, I contacted my solicitor and he told me that it was invalid but If I drew the attention of the Gardai to the error thry could issue a new fine within 6 months. I left it go to court and had my solicitor represent me and it was thrown out. But it really is at the judges discretion, he could correct the error if he so wished. It all really depends on the judge tbh.

Our man in Havana

Stekelly wrote:

It's probably best to just pay it and be rid. How much will it cost to take time off work, travel to and from cork, eat /drink for the day, plus the whole pain in the ass of it. Not worth the bother imo.

Could they end up strikeing it out and then issueing him with a new ticket for the correct time?

They could reissue if it is still within 6 months of the offence, beware of this.

Junkyard, your story shows how the system works, if there is any error you MUST not alert the garda as they will simply issue a new ticket provided they are still in the 6 month window.

numorouno

this is a risky one as if a summons is issued the gardai can ammend the summons in court if he spots the mistake before hand so all your efforts may prove for nothing and youd end up with double the points and all the hassle.if it were me id pay the fine and take the 2 points cos it dont affect the insurance anyhow

Our man in Havana

That can only work if the garda spots the mistake before you mention it, otherwise it's game over.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

andrew1977 wrote:

Hi Folks

Was travelling to work from Drogheda to Cork on the 17th August, Gardai stopped me for speeding at Glanmire outside Cork @ approx 8.30am
Garda took my license back to the police car,came back to me and said a Fixed Charge Offence would be issued to be by post in the coming weeks, 80 Euro fine and 2 penalty points
The fine arrived today , the date which i was caught speeding is correct but the time of the offence says 21:34pm ...but the stopped me @ approx 8.30am in the morning ??

What could have caused this error on the fine ? Am i able to dispute this now becuase at 21.34pm i was in the hotel bar ,not driving the car
Is it worth the hassle to try and fight this on a technicality or is it better off just paying the fine ??
Also if i decline to pay the fine on time,will my summons to court be in a local Cork court or in my home town of Drogheda
To have to go back down to Cork and not get the case dismissed might just be too much expense for me taking into account solicitor costs etc and 4 penalty points instead of 2 if i pay the fine on time
Anyones opinion greatly appreciated
thanks

get a receipt from the bar and/or a witness from the bar to say you were there. then have your day in court, sit back and watch the judge giving the gardai a roasting...

Wishbone Ash

\m/_(>_<)_\m/ wrote:

get a receipt from the bar and/or a witness from the bar to say you were there. then have your day in court, sit back and watch the judge giving the gardai a roasting...

It could backfire! A friend of mine had his name spelt incorrectly on a ticket. He opted to go to court and represented himself, confident in the knowledge that it would be dismissed. The judge simply changed the spelling and issued him with a nice fine. Smirk wiped swiftly from mouth.

overdriver

Friend of mine had a similar experience, Wishbone. However, I was in court and saw a geansai load of cases being thrown out on exactly this kind of thing.
I think a name-change would be less likely to succeed than the incorrect time, and bear in mind he will also have the fact the cop mightn't show, and the statistically good chance that he will succeed anyway, as that's what teh figures show.

Wishbone Ash

numorouno wrote:

id pay the fine and take the 2 points cos it dont affect the insurance anyhow

Maybe the OP has 10 points already :eek:

andrew1977

Spoke to my solicitor today, he took a copy of the speeding ticket, he said to leave it with him for a couple of days and he would come back to me.
He said he would be fairly confident it would be made null and void because of the timing error but the expense of me, him + all his expense costs to go from Drogheda to Cork could outweigh the point of arguing the case ..

cheers to all for their opinions

p.s this is my first set of penalty points

Sizzler

andrew1977 wrote:

Spoke to my solicitor today, he took a copy of the speeding ticket, he said to leave it with him for a couple of days and he would come back to me.
He said he would be fairly confident it would be made null and void because of the timing error but the expense of me, him + all his expense costs to go from Drogheda to Cork could outweigh the point of arguing the case ..

cheers to all for their opinions

p.s this is my first set of penalty points

Fair play Andrew, you did right imo. If someone got done for double parking and on a saturday when they were at home in their scratch having a lie in you can be sure they wouldnt be paying the fine so disregard all the posters that were very quick to saddle up on their high horse telling you to put up and shut up and pay the fine. I for one am glad you did what you did

Rudolph Claus

You didn't specifically state it in your post OP, but I presume you were speeding when caught. Pay the fine, take the points and chalk it up to experience rather than trying to wriggle out on a technicality...

:rolleyes: You wont get far in life if you bend over as easily as that the whole time. I have to ask but do you even drive?

OP, bring it to court, garda probably wont show, can you find a solicitor in cork? Has it been determined if the courtcase will definitely be in cork or can it be moved to a more practical town for an offender.

Our man in Havana

The case will have to take place in the court area where the offence is alleged to have happened. If it was set up to suit the offender the administration of justice would break down. Gardai would spend most of their time travelling to far flung places.

overdriver

Fair play to you, stand up to them. They're so concerned about the absolute letter of the law, that it's lovely when iut turns on them and bites them in the ass.
Good luck, my friend.

junkyard

Yeah, I'm getting sh*it sick of all these rules and regulations in this country too and the feckers in the know can get away with everything still...even with all the tribunals.:mad:

Peaches & Creme

Actually one of my nieces got a parking fine with the wrong time on it, it was for 10mins past midnite when infact the pay and display parking only runs from 8.30am - 18.00pm. So she rang up the office it was issued from and she was told to scrap it as if she went to court to dispute it that the judge would throw it out of court and scrap the fine anyway, so id say yeah get ur evidence that you were elsewhere at that time and dispute it.

Signpost

If the time is wrong there screwed. Cant charge ya for somethin ya werent doing at that particular time. Things have to be exact in court for them to stand up in relation to the offence. A name can be changed but a time or a place etc cant be. Otherwise we'd be subject to even more garda corruption. If you take points aswell another 2 and insurance quote will start to be effected. If its a lawyer thats worrying ya get one of them €1 ones as they prob wont even have to speak!!!

unnameduser

You are taking a gamble by fighting it because you might get 4 points rather than 2.

Me, id fight it and take my chances. good luck with it

Our man in Havana

unnameduser wrote:

You are taking a gamble by fighting it because you might get 4 points rather than 2.

In this case there is no gamble at all. They will loose in style.

delly

Fighting the system FTW

franksm

UK police are getting annoyed at lawyers getting their clients off reckless/dangerous/drunk driving charges due to fine-print etc

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5340846.stm

flamingo

this is just ridiculous! come on, OP, if you were speeding, pay the ****ing fine! you broke the law, possibly putting people in danger, and now you have the gal to dispute it over a tiny technicality?! I don't care whether or not you already have 10 points on your license - if fact, if you do, then so much the better! - you deserve all you get!

makes me sick, so it does.

delly

flamingo wrote:

this is just ridiculous! come on, OP, if you were speeding, pay the ****ing fine! you broke the law, possibly putting people in danger, and now you have the gal to dispute it over a tiny technicality?! I don't care whether or not you already have 10 points on your license - if fact, if you do, then so much the better! - you deserve all you get!

makes me sick, so it does.

You know, you may have a point if our speedchecks were carried out in proper locations that may actually help reduce road death, but when i see a speed van on the M50 trying to catch people doing over 60 km/h along the roadworks I kinda get a little annoyed. This is a simple case of shooting fish etc., as I say it is unsafe and damn near impossible to maintain such low speeds.

Seth Brundle

franksm wrote:

UK police are getting annoyed at lawyers getting their clients off reckless/dangerous/drunk driving charges due to fine-print etc

Surely then the Police should ensure that what they are charging someone for is legally watertight?

Hotblack Desiato

kbannon wrote:

Surely then the Police should ensure that what they are charging someone for is legally watertight?

Exactly. It's up to the police to do their job properly. If they can interpret the law as they see fit (or judges allow the police undue 'flexibility') then we might convict more guilty suspects but we'll convict more innocent ones too.