Late payment of fine

topsoff

really worried and would appreciate some advice. Received notification regarding payment of fine in May. was given 90 days to pay and being the idiot i am left it on the long finger. it was due last sunday (so i guess monday would have been okay?). reading the forum it looks like an automatic summons will be issued as result of non-payment, late payment?
Is there any ringing the district court or guards and explaining that it will be with them tuesday morning?
really worried now, a summons will mean a day in court. would nature of what you got fined for increase the chances of judge coming down heavy as result of non payment? I mean non payment or parking fine would not be as serious as non payment of fine for motor offence or drink driving fine?
whats generally the outcome?

johnnyskeleton

Have you tried to pay online?

McCrack

topsoff wrote: »

really worried and would appreciate some advice. Received notification regarding payment of fine in May. was given 90 days to pay and being the idiot i am left it on the long finger. it was due last sunday (so i guess monday would have been okay?). reading the forum it looks like an automatic summons will be issued as result of non-payment, late payment?
Is there any ringing the district court or guards and explaining that it will be with them tuesday morning?
really worried now, a summons will mean a day in court. would nature of what you got fined for increase the chances of judge coming down heavy as result of non payment? I mean non payment or parking fine would not be as serious as non payment of fine for motor offence or drink driving fine?
whats generally the outcome?

Judges are usually not sympathetic to people who fail to pay fines simply because they 'forgot'. The amount of admin it takes including the actual time in the District Court to deal with it is frustrating and annoying.

Once a summons is issued it cannot be revoked. Simple as that.

topsoff

Thanks johnnyskel,

i tried the online option you suggested and the district court that is due payment of the fine is not part of that pilot scheme...

thanks for your input McCrack. i can only put this down to stupidity, and fully accept that this is a waste of the system's time and 100 percent my fault. no argument.

simply put, i am extremely worried and the thought of another court appearance does not sit well with me. after reading some posts on other sites it does appear that non-payment of fines sometimes leads to a custodial sentence.

was just hoping to tap into other peoples experience that's all.

ronnie3585

It's pretty excessive to be locked up for being a week late paying a fine. The best thing to do would be to ring the relevant District Court office first thing on Tuesday and explain the situation and make it clear that you are more than willing to pay the fine. The summons may have issued. If it has then I'm not sure where you stand, from my experience different DC offices vary quite at lot in terms of their procedure.

topsoff

I just received confirmation that the DC got my fine and the summons was not processed. Dealt with a lovely lady, who was quite friendly by the way McCrack. I had visions of being told off, which by the way would have been completely justified. It really is a weight off my shoulders. I was worried all weekend and was expecting to summons to coincide with holidays that I’ve booked. So the girlfriend has been a bit frosty. Then there was the thought of being banged up for non-payment. I know that would have been excessive and probably unrealistic but when you’re a worrier like me anything goes.
JohnSkel and Ronnie, thanks for the advice!

ronnie3585

Good stuff. No reason for the DC to give out to you. They're happy you paid the fine as it is less paperwork for them in terms of issuing the summons, service etc.