Insurance Disc Prosectution

lori88

Hi,

Was recently in a car accident with a friend where a man hit us from behind the thing is my friend only had the car 4 days and her new insurance disc had not come and she had her old one displayed in the windscreen and produced her new one at the garda barracks when it arrived. Now the guard wants to prosecute her for having the wrong insurance disc displayed? What are the consequences does anyone know? And will her insurance cover her for this mistake? She's with FBD

Lori

MagicSean

lori88 wrote: »

Hi,

Was recently in a car accident with a friend where a man hit us from behind the thing is my friend only had the car 4 days and her new insurance disc had not come and she had her old one displayed in the windscreen and produced her new one at the garda barracks when it arrived. Now the guard wants to prosecute her for having the wrong insurance disc displayed? What are the consequences does anyone know? And will her insurance cover her for this mistake? She's with FBD

Lori

Was it the same policy number or did she have a new insurance company. Did the garda say he was gonna bring her to court or did she get a summons?

Jo King

S.I. No. 355/1984:

ROAD TRAFFIC (INSURANCE DISC) REGULATIONS, 1984.

5. (1) When a vehicle is used in a public place the insurance disc for the vehicle shall be carried on the vehicle at all times after the expiry of 10 days from the date of authentication of the certificate of insurance.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1984/en/si/0355.html

MagicSean

Jo King wrote: »

S.I. No. 355/1984:

ROAD TRAFFIC (INSURANCE DISC) REGULATIONS, 1984.

5. (1) When a vehicle is used in a public place the insurance disc for the vehicle shall be carried on the vehicle at all times after the expiry of 10 days from the date of authentication of the certificate of insurance.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1984/en/si/0355.html

OP mentioned the car had only been purchased four days before hand.

slimjimmc

According to the OP the prosecution is for displaying the wrong insurance disc, not for failure to display an insurance disc.

MagicSean

slimjimmc wrote: »

According to the OP the prosecution is for displaying the wrong insurance disc, not for failure to display an insurance disc.

Good point. So it was the disc from another vehicle then. She might get away with pleading ignorance to a judge.

IrishTonyO

If the insurance disc was from her old car, and the insurance had been transferred to the new car, it will be kicked out of court.

pirelli

lori88 wrote: »

Hi,

Was recently in a car accident with a friend where a man hit us from behind the thing is my friend only had the car 4 days and her new insurance disc had not come and she had her old one displayed in the windscreen and produced her new one at the garda barracks when it arrived. Now the guard wants to prosecute her for having the wrong insurance disc displayed? What are the consequences does anyone know? And will her insurance cover her for this mistake? She's with FBD

Lori

She is of course fully insured. If she was driving the wrong vehicle it would be a whole different kettle of fish. At the very least the insurance certificate will serve as the document of importance here.

Jo King

slimjimmc wrote: »

According to the OP the prosecution is for displaying the wrong insurance disc, not for failure to display an insurance disc.

If she is not obliged to display any disc, how can she be displaying a wrong disc?
There is only one offence in respect of insurance discs-failure to display a valid disc. The wrong disc is therefore not a valid disc. The offence only kicks in 10 days after the insurance has come into effect so there cannot be a situation where an offence is committed if there is some disc but not committed if there was no disc.
Most non display cases are struck out in the District Court when it is established that the vehicle was covered by insurance at the relevant time. Judges do not want to listen to submissions about the effect of the provisions of S.I. 355/1984.

lori88

Same policy just switched the car. Covered by the insurance company as far as we know! Thanks for all your help guys. Everyone is saying it will be struck out. So fingers crossed. The guard said shes liable for prosecution cos shes making a claim for her car cos its a right off so she gave her story 2 him and argued the point. She would of having no insurance details on her at all without that disc. So this was vital information at the time. The accident was not our fault but yet were been punished which I think is extreamly unfair of the guard but i suppose he's only doing his job!

MagicSean

lori88 wrote: »

Thanks for all your help guys. Everyone is saying it will be struck out. So fingers crossed. The guard said shes liable for prosecution cos shes making a claim for her car cos its a right off so she gave her story 2 him and argued the point. She would of having no insurance details on her at all without that disc. So this was vital information at the time. The accident was not our fault but yet were been punished which I think is extreamly unfair of the guard but i suppose he's only doing his job!

Gardaí generally take a very dim view of people using a disc from another vehicle. So that is probably why he is pursuing it.

lori88

She was insured though just an innocent mistake of displaying the wrong disk! We'll find out soon enough what is the result depends on the guard at the end of the day! He seems pretty nice so maybe he won't go ahead with it