Late payment of motoring fine. Can court be avoided by paying now?

dormant_co_acc

Hello all

A friend of mine has a bit of a situation. She received a motoring fine, which came with 2 penalty points and a fine of (I think) €70. When she got the notice, she thought she had 90 days to pay, but it seems that was actually only 56.

She tried to make payment inside what she thought was the alloted period, but has now been told that she faces a court appearance. This seems a bit harsh, given that she simply misunderstood the instruction of the letter and is not down to an unwillingness to pay.

I'm wondering if it's possible to circumvent the issuing of the summons. She got a very "Computer Says No" response from the office that sends out the fine notice.

Is it possible for her to pay and avoid a court appearance? If so, can you tell me how to go about it?

Any help and constructive comments are appreciated.

seamus

It's not possible for her to pay at this stage. Once the 56 days have elapsed, she faces a mandatory court appearance.

Even at this stage if the Garda involved wanted to drop the charge, he would need to go to court and ask the judge to strike it out. So there's no way out of the court appearance.

The court will not go easy on her because she misunderstood the penalty notice. Tbh, it's quite clear on the notice. The only reason she could think she had 90 days is if she didn't read the fine that was sent to her.

dormant_co_acc

Hi Seamus

Many thanks for your help on this.

Yes, she's kicking herself alright but it's about damage limitation at this point. Would you have any idea of what a judge is likely to impose on the day?

She's aware that she's going to get four points instead of two but she's just concerned about the monetary penalty that she faces.

seamus

I honestly don't know. My gut feeling is that the fine would be doubled, around €250.

BabyMonkeyy

If she has no other priors the judge will fine her around the 150-180 mark. Its a minor offence, hopefully the judge will be in somewhat of a good mood.

Kosseegan

It is going to be in the District Court. District Court judges vary a lot in their approach to issues like this. I have seen some strike out the charge on payment into court of money, others striking out on dubious grounds others doubling the fine. Best thing to do is go to your local District Court on sitting days and see what happens.

Our man in Havana

The summons can be withdrawn up to 7 days before the court sitting.

dormant_co_acc

Any idea how one goes about that?

Mr. Presentable

She has to go to Court. Her excuse won't wash. She will likely face a doubling of the points and fine. How could she misread the notice to read 56 as 90?

Our man in Havana

dormant_co_acc wrote: »

Any idea how one goes about that?

Find the issuing guard and ask him.

dormant_co_acc

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

She has to go to Court. Her excuse won't wash. She will likely face a doubling of the points and fine. How could she misread the notice to read 56 as 90?

Presentable. My OP thanks people for constructive comments. Therefore, for your comment, please accept half a "thank you" with half of my best wishes.

Milk & Honey

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Find the issuing guard and ask him.

The guard doesn't issue the summons. The court service does. The guard just applies for it.

Our man in Havana

And who serves it? The Guard.

The system can be bent to your advantage. Use it.

Milk & Honey

Our man in Havana wrote: »

And who serves it? The Guard.

The guard cannot serve a summons he has applied for. Summons for minor traffic offences are posted in any case.

galgar

Go to court on the day and find the Garda and explain to him you got your dates wrong and see what he/she says. It has been mentioned a few times in court that there is a 'computer says no' attitude when people try to pay out of the allotted time and some Judges are reasonable about it.

BabyMonkeyy

the judge will ask you if you have anything to say, just say politely you misread the payment period and that you are sorry for wasting the courts time! that's all you need to say if it does get that far. Hopefully then the judge will go easy. Also dress appropriately like your going for an interview.