Summonsed to court without warning, L-Driver driving without qualified driver.

J

Jolly Man

Registered User
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Guys,

Would appreciate your advice about a year ago, i was stopped at a check point and the guard decided to investigate because i had my L-plates up, i realise that it is against the law but i taught they were easy going regarding first time provisional liscense drivers driving unaccompanied, this was not helped by the fact that my liscense was out of date by 10 days. The guard at the time told me that he would not write me up as long as i hand in my new liscense within 10 days to my local garda station which i did. I know it was my fault but is a bit harsh to send a summons to court a year later?
 
Re: Summonsed to court without warning

not really you had no licence and shouldn't have been on the road in the first place without a qualified driver beside you........simple as that in my eyes.
 
Re: Summonsed to court without warning

I thought they turned a blind eye to this sort of thing too.

If your licence was out of date, it must have been your 2nd provisional?:confused:

Either way they have you. Get a solicitor to attend court.
 
Re: Summonsed to court without warning

RS2K said:
I thought they turned a blind eye to this sort of thing too.
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Every so often a local super can have a crack down, espc if there have been some high profile deaths on the roads. I was told this at a recent RSA meeting i attended. The L plates are becoming an issue and i know if two young lads having their cars taken away for on L plates, ok they were given back after a few days but it got word around the town fairly quick for others to get theirs up
 
Yes technically i would have been on my second provisional at the time except i had never realised the first was out of date. I realise i was wrong but i reckon very few people check their lisence/know when they expire. I guess i will just have to face uo to it. Anybody have any idea what sort of fines/points for this offence?
 
See http://www.penaltypoints.ie/licence_offences.php (here) for details of potential penalty points. Not sure about the fines/charges.
 
Did you hand it into garda station within 10 days ?

What exactly are you been charged with ?
 
If your licence is out of date by up to and no more than 12 months the fine is up to a max of €1000.
 
The best thing to do is call your solicitor. He'll advice you what to do (probably you don't have to do anything... just attend the court). Now, if you don't have a solicitor, now it's the time to get one.
 
Yes i handed in the liscense within 10 days, and taught no more of it until then, the summons is for driving without a liscense, i have a solicitor is it worth getting him involved though?

Anybody any taughts of askin for a favour off a person you know in the force?
 
Jolly Man said:
Yes i handed in the liscense within 10 days, and taught no more of it until then, the summons is for driving without a liscense, i have a solicitor is it worth getting him involved though?

Anybody any taughts of askin for a favour off a person you know in the force?
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Get your solicitor involved. Say it was an innocent oversight, which it was.

Technically your insurance would not have been valid.

If you get points/fine/endorsement/ban it will have a nasty effect on your insurance in the future too.

It's a serious issue, and I'd advise you not to treat it lightly.
 
Oh ok, will contact my solicitor and tell him the story. I was speaking to a friend of mine who is a guard and his version was that most guards would not do you for it but you can often come across a strict one or else the super might have been running riot in the barracks, he has offered to contact the guard that summonsed me but i think that may not help the situation.
 
Now that you got the court letter, is a bit late to ask for a favour from the Gardai.
 
RS2K said:
Technically your insurance would not have been valid.
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No, the insurance was valid... an expired license is still valid for insurance....

if you check the working on the policy it would say something like "holding a license or having having held one been not disqualified....
 
You haven't been summonsed for driving without insurance. So that's the end of that as far as the court is concerned. You have been summonsed for driving without a current valid driving licence. It's a minor offence. You do not have to go to court if you have your solicitor appear on your behalf. Alternatively you can go to court, say you're sorry, point out that you now have a current driving licence ( which you should bring with you and show to the prosecuting garda before the court again just to be sure) and you will most likely just receive a small fine.
 
That would be great if thats the way it goes i have since got my full liscense also, so that should be on my side.
 
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