Garda at checkpoint

rowanh

While i would not generally have a very high opinion of the gards and i think they do need to be trained a lot more if not selected somewhat better i have never had any troubles with them while driving. Of all the time i have been stopped at a checkpoint or even the couple times i have been randomley pulled over they have always been fairly polite and have known the law(at least as well as i do). Once even i had just come back here from living in wales and my car was eight something like 14 months out of tax, i managed to start driving car without relising this and was shocked when the gard told me it was that out of date. I simply explained i had been living out of hte country and had no idea it was and they told me to just bring proof i had been living out of the country to a garda station and i could get the time taken off so i did not have to pay the back tax. Was very easy.

I have just bought a subaru impreza though and the vrt has only just been paid by the guy who brought it in and it has no disks on it at all. I do have insurance but i managed to sell my old car and leave the insurance disk in it. Im fairly freaked out about getting stopped as i probably cant produce the insuarnace disk for a week, i only just for the form to replace it and the tax probably not even for a month. I thought there was some amount of time you had to get a tax disk but from the sound of what people are saying here you dont at all. Seems stupid if you have to pay for tax for a time you cant legally drive it. At the same time im hoping if i get stopped i can talk my way out of it.

Wishbone Ash

LostinBlanch wrote:

Not strictly true. Years ago my father bought a car in a private sale from car for sale ad in the herald. It belonged to the Swiss ambassador and the tax office wouldn't tax it as it still had diplomatic immunity!

Even if the vehicle is tax exempt, it is still required to have a tax disc displayed (with €0.00). I think that's what zuutroy may mean. Next time you pass a Garda car, have a look.

Rovi

Kaiser2000 wrote:

I think we've established at this stage that a lot of the cops have no more clue about the laws of the road (or their jobs in general) than most citizens.

Of course in their defence, a lot of the laws contradict themselves, are vague, and ultimately come down to the judgement of the cop you get on the scene. And it's not just the motoring regulations - for example, take a look at the debate raging on AH about the 17 year old girl and the abortion laws.

What is it about Ireland and the Irish that we're incapable of governing ourselves and legislating appropriately without it all hinging on the individual opinion of who you get on the day? :mad:

Cars/motoring/the Road Traffic Acts/etc are only in the ha'penny place, come on over to the Shooting forum for many fine examples of creative interpretation/invention of the law by the very people meant to be enforcing it.

_Kaiser_

rowanh wrote:

While i would not generally have a very high opinion of the gards and i think they do need to be trained a lot more if not selected somewhat better i have never had any troubles with them while driving. Of all the time i have been stopped at a checkpoint or even the couple times i have been randomley pulled over they have always been fairly polite and have known the law(at least as well as i do). Once even i had just come back here from living in wales and my car was eight something like 14 months out of tax, i managed to start driving car without relising this and was shocked when the gard told me it was that out of date. I simply explained i had been living out of hte country and had no idea it was and they told me to just bring proof i had been living out of the country to a garda station and i could get the time taken off so i did not have to pay the back tax. Was very easy.

I have just bought a subaru impreza though and the vrt has only just been paid by the guy who brought it in and it has no disks on it at all. I do have insurance but i managed to sell my old car and leave the insurance disk in it. Im fairly freaked out about getting stopped as i probably cant produce the insuarnace disk for a week, i only just for the form to replace it and the tax probably not even for a month. I thought there was some amount of time you had to get a tax disk but from the sound of what people are saying here you dont at all. Seems stupid if you have to pay for tax for a time you cant legally drive it. At the same time im hoping if i get stopped i can talk my way out of it.

Get your insurance co to fax you over a letter saying you're covered.. I've done it before without any hassle.
If you paid for the tax already then keep the receipt or printout from the website that confirms the transaction.

Keep both in the car and you'll be grand

Our man in Havana

Surely of you produce your documents at the roadside they can't then make you produce again at the station?

_Kaiser_

Bond-007 wrote:

Surely of you produce your documents at the roadside they can't then make you produce again at the station?

They can do what they like really.. that's the whole problem.

Can't wait for this Ombudsman to start cleaning up our Keystone Cops brigade myself.

CLADA

Bond-007 wrote:

Surely of you produce your documents at the roadside they can't then make you produce again at the station?

If you produce documents at the roadside you have complied with the demand and are not compelled to produce them again at the station.

Even if they could do what they like kaiser 2000, why would they bother?

Altreab

LostinBlanch wrote:

Not strictly true. Years ago my father bought a car in a private sale from car for sale ad in the herald. It belonged to the Swiss ambassador and the tax office wouldn't tax it as it still had diplomatic immunity!

I'm sure that kind of thing still applies! Don't know though.

Would Diplomatic imunity make fines and points go away?

LostinBlanch

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Even if the vehicle is tax exempt, it is still required to have a tax disc displayed (with €0.00). I think that's what zuutroy may mean. Next time you pass a Garda car, have a look.

Fair enough, I didn't know that. It's a moot point as he hasn't had the car for years.

Altreab wrote:

Would Diplomatic imunity make fines and points go away?

I suppose so, and no clamping too!

_Kaiser_

CLADA wrote:

Even if they could do what they like kaiser 2000, why would they bother?

For the same reason that a lot of them deal with the public in such an arrogant manner - it's an ego thing. Too many of them think they're somehow above the general public.

MarkN

There's one thing worse than an Irish guard on a power trip...

An Irish guard on a power trip who doesn't understand the rules he is trying to police!!!!!

I had to explain to a guard who pulled me over on the N32 for "driving in the bus lane" what after 7pm meant on a non 24 hour bus lane. :rolleyes:

Now I'm sure it's .01% of the guards in Ireland that are like this but if you can't rely on them to know the rules of the road then who can you!

And just to anyone saying a car not taxed should not be on the road, how many brand new cars hit the roads everyday? HOW can these people physically get a tax disc? You have to send off whether it's the internet or post and the BLOODY TAX OFFICES CLOSE AT 3PM MOST DAYS!!!!

Until there is some way of getting tax quicker then I really think the law should be changed.

Altreab

Shiva wrote:

You get some leeway with a newly purchased car though, no ?

You can't tax a newly purchased car without the registration cert in your name, so how can you tax it ?

There is a 30 Day Grace period for motor tax. Tax disk expires on May 31st ...you have until end of June to get a new one ...but you Do have to pay your tax from 1st June not te date your renewing it. For a new car its a month as well. Afterall you cant tax it without the documentation.
To the person that mentioned about Tax offices closing at 3pm its a bitch i agree and should be oped to 5 Pm..... however if you can use the online service it IS good ....last few times i and other family members have used it we got our tax certs within 3-4 working days.

MarkN

I'm fairly certain it's 21 days.

green-blood

well this is interesting because twice a day now I pass Mr Barry Andrews (FF) prospective new TD's brand new 07 renault van, tax applied for on March 31st appraently..... still no disk th ough :-)

it should be noted that there is no act under which a garda can take any action against you for not having an NCT. Not having an NCT is not an offence, there is no fine, no points, no sanction.

now there is nothing stopping him/her for thouroughly checking your vehicle for roadworthiness, but there is no "no nct" box for them to tick

Our man in Havana

There have been a number of sucessful prosecutions for no nct in recent times. My own brother got fined €250 at Baltinglass District Court for not having a nct.

BarryM3

WOW - A Garda that doesn't know what he's talking about, thats unusual...Not!!

I driive for a living and I could take up the whole server if I recounted the amount of times I've had to put right ass hole cop who knew nothing of what he spoke!!!

Some of the highlights was like a previous poster, the Bus Lane outside of the time window... Happened me twice!!

Parking a goods vehicle on double yellows to make a delivery - completely legal, had to produce a copy of rules of road to prove that one.

As a workforce they probably have one of the highest ratios of inept staff!!

gingerhousewife

I know this is slightly off topic, but on the classic car bit...My husband has a vintage Vespa, which was also imported from the UK. He can't, however, tax it as a vintage, as it was first registered in Ireland in 1988! Hope you don't have the same problem and end up having to get an NCT after all :eek:

Our man in Havana

Was it not previously registered in the UK?

yayamark

green-blood wrote:

well this is interesting because twice a day now I pass Mr Barry Andrews (FF) prospective new TD's brand new 07 renault van, tax applied for on March 31st appraently..... still no disk th ough :-)

it should be noted that there is no act under which a garda can take any action against you for not having an NCT. Not having an NCT is not an offence, there is no fine, no points, no sanction.

now there is nothing stopping him/her for thouroughly checking your vehicle for roadworthiness, but there is no "no nct" box for them to tick

i'm afraid green blood you have been misinformed. not having your vehicle nct compliable is and was always an offence under the road trraffic act.

Under the newly ammended road traffic act upon conviction in court there is a monetary fine and 5 yes five penalty points

_Kaiser_

Just rang the local Gardai to report a fixed body truck that had no rear number plate and who was driving erratically and tailgating the car in front.

Well actually, I rang NEXT station because having called into the local one (where there were 2 Traffic Corps cars parked) one fella had no more interest as he was "off duty" and the other 2 were off to court they said.

So duly rang the next station to let them know, but when I ask who owns the two cars sitting in the first station she starts getting ignorant telling me she's taken my complaint but won't deal with one about other Gardai??

Then although she gave me her name, she initially wouldn't give her badge number, but after asking her 3 times, I got it out of her although naturally her Superintendent isn't available for me to speak to.

God I hate the Gardai. The whole lot of them need to be investigated at this stage from top to bottom. :mad:

Sesshoumaru

I recall once coming into Celbridge late in the evening when it was dark. There was a car coming towards me that suddenly swerved onto my side of the road and mounted the footpath(It was a straight road). I slammed on the brakes of course and the other car managed to swerve back onto his side of the road. As he passed me I checked my mirrors and noticed he mounted the footpath on his side of the road as well. My guess was that the driver had one too many drinks. As I came into celbridge village I noticed a garda car parked at the side of road outside a chippers. I saw one of them inside ordering food and another waiting in the car. So I parked up behind their car and got out to talk to the gardai in the car. I knocked on the window and he opened the door(electric windows wouldn't open I presume without the car running). I explained what happened. I gave him the make, model(new style laguna), colour and the direction the car was heading in. He asked me did I get the registration number. When I told him I wasn't able to get the registration number he told me there was nothing he could do. When I pointed out that I or a pedestrian on the footpath could have been killed he half heartedly said he would radio the station...... and that was it. I was so disgusted with his attitude. I had just given him details on a possible DUI not more than 1 kilometer from where he was and he wasn't prepared to do anything of any signifigance. I couldn't help thinking he was more concerned with getting his battered burger and chips.

thanqel

hi

i have a mini i was told that no nct is needed on it cos it 25 years old but i dont know wat the limit is

BeardyGit

thanqel wrote:

hi

i have a mini i was told that no nct is needed on it cos it 25 years old but i dont know wat the limit is

You need an NCT until it's 30 years old to the day...

PeteK*

To me it seems he did not want to admit that you may be right and he may be wrong...