Court Summons Motor Tax

I was stopped by the police today. I had no motor tax displaying and it is out of date. They said they are going to summons me 2 court. Has this happend to anyone berfore. What is gonna happen????

Cheers!!!

kaizersoze123

how far out of date is it?

jhegarty

A guy i know was put off the road for two years... but his was wwaaaaaaaayyyyyyy out of date....

it out of date from december but i am only being summonsed for failure to display a tax disc. Any idea??

copacetic

Deleted User wrote:

it out of date from december but i am only being summonsed for failure to display a tax disc. Any idea??

seems weird, usually they just give you the fine, although in your case they should have taken the car off you.

Is there points now for not displaying a tax disc? that could be why they are doing it this way.

edit: it's not on points list, but looks like then can prosecute you if they want:
Failure to tax your vehicle and/or display a current tax disc is a serious offence and you are liable to receive a fine and/or face prosecution if you do not comply.

bazz26

daveym wrote:

seems weird, usually they just give you the fine, although in your case they should have taken the car off you.

Is there points now for not displaying a tax disc? that could be why they are doing it this way.

edit: it's not on points list, but looks like then can prosecute you if they want:
Failure to tax your vehicle and/or display a current tax disc is a serious offence and you are liable to receive a fine and/or face prosecution if you do not comply.

It's out of date since December so that is almost 3 months ago. The OP had 3 months to renew the tax and didn't for whatever reasons. I think a summons is standard in this case, you might get a fine for it being a month or so out of date but 3 months is a bit much to be honest.

The OP will probably get done for not displaying a valid road tax disc and for not having the car taxed.

copacetic

bazz26 wrote:

It's out of date since December so that is almost 3 months ago. The OP had 3 months to renew the tax and didn't for whatever reasons. I think a summons is standard in this case, you might get a fine for it being a month or so out of date but 3 months is a bit much to be honest.

The OP will probably get done for not displaying a valid road tax disc and for not having the car taxed.

he said from december so is that 3 and a half months? They should have taken the car off him if so, never mind the fine and the summons.

You are allowed a month to get a new disc without a fine iirc, 1 - 3 months out, on the spot €65 fine. 3 or more, impound the car. At least thats what I understood.

bazz26

daveym wrote:

he said from december so is that 3 and a half months? They should have taken the car off him if so, never mind the fine and the summons.

You are allowed a month to get a new disc without a fine iirc, 1 - 3 months out, on the spot €65 fine. 3 or more, impound the car. At least thats what I understood.

Maybe they only impound the car for failure to have valid car insurance rather than motor tax?

Either way it seems odd that the OP only received a summons for not displaying a valid tax disc.

copacetic

bazz26 wrote:

Maybe they only impound the car for failure to have valid car insurance rather than motor tax?

Either way it seems odd that the OP only received a summons for not displaying a valid tax disc.

no, deffo are supposed to impound it if tax is 3 months out. nearly happened to me a couple of years back after being away with work for a while. As it turned out they couldn't get a truck so got away with it. Was a funny conversation, Garda was mortified. 'ah jesus boy, sure i'll have to take it off you'

edit:
Under powers to tackle motor tax evasion introduced in April 1995, the Garda may impound vehicles in respect of which motor tax has not been paid for a continuous period of three months or more. Following the publication of the nationwide survey of compliance with motor tax, the Garda Commissioner undertook to implement a number of measures such as the revision of existing enforcement initiatives and also the drawing up of comprehensive regional enforcement plans. The Commissioner has been requested to ensure the Garda policing plan maintains and expands on this enforcement action to vigorously pursue evasion.

From senate debate here:
http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0175/S.0175.200403040008.html

But something funny alright, should have got the 65 fine, car taken off him and a summons!

seamus

daveym wrote:

You are allowed a month to get a new disc without a fine iirc, 1 - 3 months out, on the spot €65 fine. 3 or more, impound the car. At least thats what I understood.

There's no hard and fast rule really. Even if it's one day out of date, you can be summonsed. But traditionally it is as you say. Makes sense really. 1 month out of date, perhaps they've only just bought it/didn't get the renewal papers, etc. 1-3 months out of date - chancer, just putting it off and hoping he doesn't get caught. > 3 months - Has no intention of ever paying road tax...

copacetic

seamus wrote:

There's no hard and fast rule really. Even if it's one day out of date, you can be summonsed. But traditionally it is as you say. Makes sense really. 1 month out of date, perhaps they've only just bought it/didn't get the renewal papers, etc. 1-3 months out of date - chancer, just putting it off and hoping he doesn't get caught. > 3 months - Has no intention of ever paying road tax...

yeah, they have discretion, but once 3 months is gone they are supposed to throw the book at you. The lad who stopped me was only young and he was saying it was to catch consistent dodgers and 'not the likes of you' as he put it. It was funny though, he was on the radio to the station looking for a truck and on the mobile to a colleague wondering was there a way to let me off. 'Sure how are you gonna get home if we take the car off ya boy?'

I was taking it much better than he was!

Vikings

I think it really depends on the Guard that stopped you. I was in court there a month ago for non-display of tax from last May, my tax was up for 3 months though it had been off the road for that time also due to an injury, I was still summonsed though and when I got to court the Guard neglected to inform the judge that I had back taxed the car and that there was no loss of income to the state for the time period that I had no tax (as I back taxed it), so assuming you back tax it, and the sooner the better, by the time you get to court the judge may just throw it out like he did my case.

To summarise my case, I was stopped before I could get the car taxed, got it taxed a week later, was summonsed 7 months afterwards, went to court the next month and it was thrown out because I back taxed it.

Though that really could depend on the judge you get on the day.

Hobbes

daveym wrote:

You are allowed a month to get a new disc without a fine iirc, 1 - 3 months out, on the spot €65 fine. 3 or more, impound the car. At least thats what I understood.

I was told by the tax office 6 weeks but this is only to cover the car changing hands. My latest car had no tax when I bought it and was told to leave the invoice in the front window if I was stopped and then show up at the Gardai station later if requested by a guard.

Oh yea and as mentioned you need to backdate the tax.

Golferx

Deleted User wrote:

I was stopped by the police today. I had no motor tax displaying and it is out of date. They said they are going to summons me 2 court. Has this happend to anyone berfore. What is gonna happen????

Cheers!!!

As it was Police, it's safe to assume you were in Northern Ireland. They tend to be a hell of a lot more strict than the Gardai.

overdriver

daveym wrote:

no, deffo are supposed to impound it if tax is 3 months out. n

Are you mixing up "should" with "may", Davey?

Under powers to tackle motor tax evasion introduced in April 1995, the Garda may impound vehicles in respect of which motor tax has not been paid for

Doesn't mean they HAVE to. It's at the garda's discretion.

Wishbone Ash

The worst part about the court appearance is spending the day queuing with all the skangers - a punishment in itself!

Golferx

I asked directions to a Courthouse, one day.

Man replied "You can't miss it. It's the building at the top of the town with all the sad people standing outside it!"

Wishbone Ash

Golferx wrote:

"You can't miss it. It's the building at the top of the town with all the sad people standing outside it!"

(perhaps he meant 'bad'!)

Golferx

He was right, that were all sad!:rolleyes:

copacetic

overdriver wrote:

Are you mixing up "should" with "may", Davey?



Doesn't mean they HAVE to. It's at the garda's discretion.

I probably have, but the 'may' is put in for people with valid reasons. Maybe they have only owned the car a few days etc. The guy who stopped my was looking for any kind of document that I had on me to say I was out of the country.

It's not to let people off for no reason..

overdriver

People get let off things every day for no reason. Other people get done for silly stuff others get away with. The Gardai are human. You get good ones and pr1cks, like any other job, or any other group of people.

If you don't mind my saying, you seem a little cheesed off the OP got away with it with "just" a summons. Has he even said why he'd no tax?

Wishbone Ash

overdriver wrote:

The Gardai are human. You get good ones and pr1cks

Are you implying that a Garda who does his job is a príck?

copacetic

overdriver wrote:

People get let off things every day for no reason. Other people get done for silly stuff others get away with. The Gardai are human. You get good ones and pr1cks, like any other job, or any other group of people.

If you don't mind my saying, you seem a little cheesed off the OP got away with it with "just" a summons. Has he even said why he'd no tax?

not at all cheesed off, sure I said above I got away with it myself. I was saying really he should be happy that all he got was a court summons, it could have been much worse.

Kimbot

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Are you implying that a Garda who does his job is a príck?

I would imagine he means the coppers that actually try to punish you when there is nothing to punish you with type of thing!!

Has happened me a few times!! Copper pulled me over and told me my Tax was out of date when it was pointed out to him that it still was valid for a few more months he tried saying my NCT was out and that was proved wrong!! Then he gave me a lecture about not having a fully licensed driver with me even tho I was on my second provisional!!