Stopped for no Road Tax

mathepac said:

If (once) summonses are served you will need a solicitor. You will almost certainly get points on your licence and a fine.

michaelm said:


Really? Can you get points for non display of Tax? I thought penalty points could only be issued in relation to safety . . anything else weakens a points system which should be solely about road safety.

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Yes, really. It's not just a non-display offence. OP signed a form declaring his vehicle off road and then used it while the declaration was in force. There was no tax disc and the vehicle was untaxed at the time of detection. That's three offences so far, and the most serious offence, which supercedes any safety considerations, is apparently attempting to deprive the State of revenue through a false declaration.

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I suspect you mistaken here @mathepac , AFAIK and following some research, in concurrence with other posters it appears there is no process in place for penalty points to be awarded for the alleged offence(s) stated in the OP.

Penalty points, as I'm sure you know, are for breaches pertinent to road safety and while you may opine that the OP's offences 'supercede any safety considerations', it does not follow that penalty points will be incurred.

Good advice has been given here in that the OP should, as soon as possible, tax the car and pay all back tax due as well.
I know the OP said he has been summonsed already, but I very much doubt that, more than likely the guard took details and informed him that he would be reported with intention to prosecute. Wait and see if a summons or a fixed penalty arrive, but in the mean time get the tax in order.

I looked on the RSA site and got the penalty points document and agree I was mistaken in thinking that misusing the off-road declaration attracted points according to the 3 year old PDF. Sorry if I misled anyone.

It seems I'm not the only one confused by the rules surrounding the off-road declaration. The two exceptions to the declaration rules are taking a car to or from an NCT centre or taking it to or from an appointment with a repairer having failed a test. The Guard who stopped the OP didn't seem to understand that either.

mathepac said:

I looked on the RSA site and got the penalty points document and agree I was mistaken in thinking that misusing the off-road declaration attracted points according to the 3 year old PDF. Sorry if I misled anyone.

It seems I'm not the only one confused by the rules surrounding the off-road declaration. The two exceptions to the declaration rules are taking a car to or from an NCT centre or taking it to or from an appointment with a repairer having failed a test. The Guard who stopped the OP didn't seem to understand that either.

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That’s right because I had a valid NCT which proves that I indeed had the car on the road at a time I had declared it off and not just this time.

Franco7 said:

You need to get out more it would seem?

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Shame the Garda did not seize your untaxed car, you would still have your Court appearance and points on your licence for your untaxed car, untaxed since 2017.

And you don't get a summons from the Garda who has just stopped you in recent days according to your post....you get a ticket, Court follows if that ticket remains unpaid or disputed.

Spin a better yarn if it goes to Court, if you got a ticket pay it and tax your car if using it in a public place.