speeding offence

postman pat

Registered User
Messages
332
A guy I work with got a summons last week for a speeding offence that he didnt know about till it arrived,he got no notice of fine and points etc previous to this,his court date is in 2 weeks time and he still has the option to pay the fine (doubled to 160 euros) and accept 3 points,or should he go to court and fight it?.I said id ask on here as it is quite interesting.

Pat
 
He can always go to court and make his case. You should know though that he will not be alone making this sort of case so if he has any evidence to present it would help
 
He can always go to court and make his case. You should know though that he will not be alone making this sort of case so if he has any evidence to present it would help
I would think it difficult to present evidence of a fixed penalty notice you allege was never received.
So many people now claim this that it really depends on whether the judge believes it or not to be true.
 
Strange how he got the court notice and never got the others, stranger still how everyone and his mother has found this big flaw in our postal service. Love your "postman pat" title. Just saying like?
 
Do An Post claim 100% delivery rates for letters? No.
Are postal workers infallible? No.

You could be in the genuine 1% or 0.5% whatever, or you could be one of the 10% trying it on. Impossible to prove or know.
It is not a fair system.

I can't be the only one with experience of not receiving expected letters, or receiving letters for different addresses.

This is more likely to occur in apartment blocks, or where the street name is shared by multiple roads in same area e.g. Willow terrace, park, avenue.
 
Do An Post claim 100% delivery rates for letters? No.
Are postal workers infallible? No.

You could be in the genuine 1% or 0.5% whatever, or you could be one of the 10% trying it on. Impossible to prove or know.
It is not a fair system.

I can't be the only one with experience of not receiving expected letters, or receiving letters for different addresses.

This is more likely to occur in apartment blocks, or where the street name is shared by multiple roads in same area e.g. Willow terrace, park, avenue.
I was in court before (as a witness) and there was a case like this. The Judge said that if the letter was not sent by registered post then there was no proof it had been received. He struck it out on that basis.
 
Strange how he got the court notice and never got the others, stranger still how everyone and his mother has found this big flaw in our postal service. Love your "postman pat" title. Just saying like?

It’s not at all strange, unfortunately. I was in the exact same situation, last year. I was stopped by a Guard, and was looking for the ticket, all summer. I actually thought he had let me go, as I was only a few km over the limit.

The first notice I got was the summons - I was livid. There’s no appeals process - pay the increased fine, or chance your look in court. I decided to pay as I didn’t want people thinking I was chancing my arm!
 
Have a look at this case - link below - yet to be reduced to a final judgment by Ni Raifeartaigh J.
I think it is on point with OP's original query.
I think that this may well end up in the Supreme Court.
I think that OP's friend should instruct his solicitor to have the case adjourned pending resolution of the constitutional point.
If the point goes in favour of the motorist OP's friend might be happy.

LINK

P.S. I think that there is also a linked or similar case currently floating around the HC - different judge - so it might be linked to the present one.
 
Last edited:
It’s not at all strange, unfortunately. I was in the exact same situation, last year. I was stopped by a Guard, and was looking for the ticket, all summer. I actually thought he had let me go, as I was only a few km over the limit.

The first notice I got was the summons - I was livid. There’s no appeals process - pay the increased fine, or chance your look in court. I decided to pay as I didn’t want people thinking I was chancing my arm!

That was unfortunate. The situation about receipt or non-receipt of notices is random and messy and that is just not satisfactory
 
That was unfortunate. The situation about receipt or non-receipt of notices is random and messy and that is just not satisfactory

It is entirely unsatisfactory that unregistered post is used, I believe that that is the root of the issue. Why not give a window, during which the original fine could be paid, before the summons kicked in? Anyway, it was only a minor issue in the overall scheme of things.
 
Back
Top