# Help, i got summonsed to court for unpaid parking ticket!



## jenn19 (21 Oct 2009)

Hey, I am hoping someone could shed some light on my problem. I got a summons to my home house today to appear in court for an unpaid parking ticket, do you think it is possible for me to pay the parking fine and not have to go through the whole court process?? please help, Ive never dealt with anything like this before


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## JamesGG (21 Oct 2009)

Usually when the summons has been issued you have to go through with it. Its nothing serious though so you will probably only get another fine. Not being smart but why didnt you pay it?


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## jenn19 (22 Oct 2009)

coz ive a million and 1 things to try and pay out of 204€ a week and i didnt get the reminders they said they sent out and completely forgot about it, it was back in march! can i pay the fine now do ya think and then go to court on the day and say ive paid it bla bla and hopefully it would be struck out?


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## missdaisy (22 Oct 2009)

I don't think you can just pay the fine now, once it has gone to summons stage it's past that. Got o Court on the day though, don't ignore the summons. Explain the situation, you will probably get an increased fine though.


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## Taslett (22 Oct 2009)

offer payment in your own terms and explain why you can't pay more than that a week/month. They cannot refuse if you can't afford anymore. Be honest though!


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## mf1 (22 Oct 2009)

Taslett said:


> offer payment in your own terms and explain why you can't pay more than that a week/month. They cannot refuse if you can't afford anymore. Be honest though!



"They cannot refuse if you can't afford anymore."

Oh yes they can! 

mf


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## kfk (23 Oct 2009)

I got a summons for a parking ticket last year. A friend told me there was no need to show up a court and take a day off work. I was fined about 40 euro on top of the parking ticket, which would probably be the same fine if I showed up to court.


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## cougar330 (23 Oct 2009)

Just show up on the day, apologise etc and you'll most likely get the same fine or maybe a bit more. Judges get annoyed when people don't show and they'll have to pay more then. Also a chance that the parking attendant or Guard mightn't show on the day and the whole lot will be struck off - happened me and about 60 fines cancelled - not all mine by the way!!
You can't pay the original fine now


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## SparkRite (23 Oct 2009)

cougar330 said:


> Just show up on the day, apologise etc and you'll most likely get the same fine or maybe a bit more. Judges get annoyed when people don't show and they'll have to pay more then.
> You can't pay the original fine now


 
+1
Explain that you did not get reminders and as Cougar said apologise to the court. Most judges look very favourably on this. 

But *do* turn up.


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## Mrs_Doyle (3 Nov 2009)

yes u can pay the fine now if u have the reference number and u dont have to go to Court. thats from my own personal experience


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## jhegarty (3 Nov 2009)

kfk said:


> I got a summons for a parking ticket last year. A friend told me there was no need to show up a court and take a day off work. I was fined about 40 euro on top of the parking ticket, which would probably be the same fine if I showed up to court.



Or you get a Judge who is having a bad day and a bench warrant is issued for you.


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## jenn19 (1 Feb 2010)

just to let ye know, I got onto the solicitors for the city council and tried to pay the fine but they did say once the summons was issued they arent allowed to accept payment due to a new law, so i went along to court and when it came to the judge asked why i hadnt paid it, and i explained that by the time i had got the money together to pay the fine the city council wouldnt accept the money because the summons was issued, he wasnt very sympathetic to the city council and said that if they wanted to refuse to take money in this day and age then thats their problem, he applied act 1 of the probation act, so bascially ididnt have to pay a thing. the judge did that for alot of ppl actually.


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## Kine (1 Feb 2010)

So you paid *no* fine?

Result!


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## sse (1 Feb 2010)

jenn19 said:


> just to let ye know, I got onto the solicitors for the city council and tried to pay the fine but they did say once the summons was issued they arent allowed to accept payment due to a new law, so i went along to court and when it came to the judge asked why i hadnt paid it, and i explained that by the time i had got the money together to pay the fine the city council wouldnt accept the money because the summons was issued, he wasnt very sympathetic to the city council and said that if they wanted to refuse to take money in this day and age then thats their problem, he applied act 1 of the probation act, so bascially ididnt have to pay a thing. the judge did that for alot of ppl actually.



I can't understand why the Judge formed that opinion if the City Council is legally barred from accepting the payment after a summons is issued.

Good result for you personally, but I find it bizarre.

SSE


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## md26571 (26 Feb 2010)

i was summomed to court in december for non payment of a parking ticket in cork,i tried to pay through laser,the guy on the phone accepted payment then rang me back later saying it was too late,and a summoms had been issued.cut a long story short my solicitor got it quashed,saying i made an effort to pay.judge agreed and berated cork city council for wasting court time.


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