Improperly issued traffic tickets

[Spectra]

So long story short - I went through a light that was a tad more amber than it could have been. Right in front of a cop. Oops. Ended up with a ticket - fair enough - if I'd seen someone else do the same thing, I'm sure I would have expected them to be pinged too.

Thing is, despite my best efforts to give money to the NSW government, I've been totally unable to. After many attempts to use the automated system, I finally found a way to speak to a person about it. After two weeks, my ticket is still not "in [their] system" - not great considering you're only given 3 weeks to pay. But more importantly, after talking to the (very helpful) lady there, it seems that the offence code recorded on the ticket doesn't exist (which explains the inability to pay over the net/phone). Further, the amount of the fine doesn't match any similar offences she could find. Her advice? Wait until the reminder notice is issued, and that will have the correct details. Not great, but I'm sure there was nothing else she personally could do (she'd already spent 20 minutes scouring through the codes for me), and I didn't want to spend more time at that instant chasing it.

So the upshot seems to be that the ticket has been filled out incorrectly - my question is, does that invalidate it? I know some other legal stuff is invalid if it's been filled out wrongly - does this include traffic penalty notices? If so, what's the procedure I need to follow to get it sorted? I'm not trying to dodge my way out of this (like I said - I've been trying to pay it), but equally I'm not about to spend weeks trying to correct a cop's mistake just so that I can hand over hundreds of bucks for the privilege.

[dwarfthrower]

Try taking the ticket into an RTA office and saying "I want to pay this fine now, today, here, with money."

If they can't sort it out there and then, get a hold of their supervisor to sort it out, if she can't sort it out keep working up the chain until they say "look, give it here and we'll pretend it never existed".

[Spectra]

Ah, therein lies another catch - I would have to drive all the way to Queanbeyan to do that (~40 minute drive each way, and who wants to ever drive there anyway?). Not a bad idea as a last resort though - thanks.

[Spectra]

Also, looking again, I don't think the RTA are very involved with this - the ticket only mentions the State Debt Recovery Office (to whom I spoke) and paying at post offices. *sigh*

[lostreality]

dont fucken pay it, if the pig cant be bothered to do his job properly it aint your fault. fight the whole thing all the way, and demand an apology and try and get your money back for the telephone calls. Police need to be taught a lesson. If they are too lazy to issue something as simple as this - imagine some of the other major bollocks they could drop.

two fingers to 'em.

[dwarfthrower]

Also, looking again, I don't think the RTA are very involved with this - the ticket only mentions the State Debt Recovery Office (to whom I spoke) and paying at post offices. *sigh*

Sorry... not too familiar with the NSW traffic infringement process myself.

[Spectra]

Sorry... not too familiar with the NSW traffic infringement process myself.

Nor am I - but I'm rapidly finding out just what a shambles it seems to be...

[SOC]

If you're willing to go to court, you should do that. A reasonable magistrate will dismiss a wrongly-issued ticket. But you have to be ready to take the chance there might be a cunt on the bench.

[Spectra]

I suppose my biggest concern with the "go to court" plan of action is that it could turn out that the ticket was issued correctly, and the SDRO are just a bunch of dumbasses...but short of coughing for a lawyer, I can't figure out any way to determine if that's the case (the associated websites are unsurprisingly lacking in a "what to do if we fuck up" section).
Also, it occurred about 8 hours drive away - I have no idea if I'd have to get back up there for a court hearing - if I did, it'd cost me almost the amount of the fine in petrol, to say nothing of time :)

[PrawnMatic]

NSW infringement processing is as such:

The infringement is written out on carbon paper (or electronically if they've got those newfangled thingies) and 3 copies are produced - part A,B and C.

Part C is issued to the client, that's the ticket the cop would've given you.
Part B is kept in the infringement book, in case it ever needs to be referred to again.
Part A is sent to the Infringement Processing Bureau (IPB), whose job it is to collect the cash from you, take a slice for themselves and give the rest of it to whichever body issued the infringement.

If your ticket isn't in their system, it could be for a number of reasons. The cop hasn't finished filling out his book and the Part A is still sitting in his infringement book, waiting to be properly filled out and sent off to the I.P.B. He could've lost his infringement book, the I.P.B could've lost the part A, etc, etc.
In NSW the S.D.R.O doesn't get involved until the I.P.B can't retrieve the money from the client - that's when subpoenas and such start getting issued. However, the A.C.T. might not use the I.P.B as a processing agent - they are free to use whoever they want, which might be the S.D.R.O.

For any infringement, a reminder notice will be sent to the reigstered owner of the vehicle (or pinged driver presumably) after 28 days with no late fees. Another 28 days after that another notice will be sent, this time with a late fee.

My advice to you would be to wait for the reminder notice. The RTA has nothing to do with issuing or processing of infringements. I'm not sure if the ACT uses the IPB or the SDRO, but if the SDRO don't have it perhaps they haven't been sent it by the IPB yet? (Or whoever processes infringements for the ACT) As long as all your contact details are up to date with your licence and registration, just wait to hear from them.

If it does come to a court case you can quite easily represent yourself - it would only be heard in a Magistrate's court. If the fine was issued correctly you can still apply for a Section 10 on your infringement, which is a guilty plea but with no penalty enforced due to a good record, good humoured magistrate, nice weather outside, whatever really. I'm also relatively certain you can elect to have it heard in a local court, if the court they elect is not convenient for you.
Hope this helps :)

[Spectra]

Thanks heaps for all the info. I'm pretty sure since the ticket was issued in NSW, that's where most of the processing is dealt with - the only reason the ACT system should be involved at all is for the demerit points.

My only note would be that it appears your info is a tad out of date (though only a tad) - when I visited www.infringements.nsw.gov.au (the site given on the ticket at which to pay), I was told "The Infringement Processing Bureau (IPB) and the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO) have been integrated." and got redirected to www.sdro.nsw.gov.au. That's why I've been dealing with the SDRO from the start.

Cheers again.

[Icky_Thoomp]

One of the guys at work had a speeding ticket that was incorrectly issued with wrong details such as date and time of the offence. Now the weird bit is that the original ticket was recalled and a new one issued with correct details. Can they do that and what can my friend do about it? Any help will be much appreciated.

[cyberwired]

Icky: Tell ya friend to quit fuckin whinging and pay the thing, he broke the law and has to pay for it

Oh and don't try and say that I must not have got a ticket at all, I've lost count, I think its 9 speeding, 1 no warrant of fitness and 1 loss of licence oh and 2 warnings
Touch wood though in the past two years I've only lost my licence for speeding (121 in an 80), I didn't argue the point though cause it took him 10km to catch me :D

[ms edeity]

if you speed/ run a red light stfu and pay the fine - and be glad you didn't wipe out another person with your shit.

my friend was collected by a truck driver running a red light and died.

grats cyber for doing 121 in an 80, you certainly seem proud of your record.

[JumpinJez]

One of the guys at work had a speeding ticket that was incorrectly issued with wrong details such as date and time of the offence. Now the weird bit is that the original ticket was recalled and a new one issued with correct details. Can they do that and what can my friend do about it? Any help will be much appreciated.

Sounds like the cop has caught up on his paperwork and realised he wrote the wrong things on the ticket.
Not much you can do other than cop the fine.

[cyberwired]

grats cyber for doing 121 in an 80, you certainly seem proud of your record.

FYI, country road and no one around to kill except myself, not city area with houses around

[Icky_Thoomp]

Thanks, CW - I love telling my friends to harden the fuck up. :D

@ Jez - sounds about right. Just thought there might have been some loophole to exploit. I know! I'll tell him to write a stat dec that some dead American woman was driving the car! :lol:

[damo]

As someone who has some (lots) of experience in being issued with, and paying traffic fines in NSW I can say the following;

Timing is everything.

Never pay a fine on the carbon copy ALWAYS wait until they send you a printed copy in the mail. There is a very good chance the cop who got you will never finish the paper work and the fine will never be recorded.

If you are low on points, but have a small amount of cash in addition to the fine ($50), don't pay the fine on any of the IPB issued reminders, I think you get 2 in addition to the carbon copy the cop gave you, after that the fin is passed on to the Office of State Revenue, which will occur a $50 admin fee on top of the fine. However, the OSR does not play well with others, and will never report that you have paid the fine or even been issued a fine to the RTA, meaning you will not have an offence recorded against your licence and you will inccur no points. I have done this twice (first time by accident, I did not have the cash to pay the fine) it's worked both times, and saved me from loosing my licence. Please note, I have not had a fine for over 2 years, and cannot confirm this still works.

I have seen the error of my ways, and now tend to keep close to the speed limit.

Another thing, if you do get pulled over, never mouth off to the cop, ie; don't pull out the ol' "Don't you have anything better to do, like catch criminals?" Surprisingly cops don't like this, and you have just given them good reason to go to town on you, and blown any chance of "negotiation". Twice, I have gotton a police officer to reduce a fine to a lessor offence, again saving my licence. All I did was talk calmly and politely, throwing in the odd, "I'm sorry officer I didn't realise I was going that fast"

The moral of this story is Don't Speed, it'll save you a hell of a lot of money, I've given the NSW government about $3,000 since I got my licence, it may also keep you alive a bit longer.

[cyberwired]

FYI I've learnt my lesson and I drive a fair bit slower these days, granted I still speed but most I do is 130kph and usually only up to 110 or 120 (before was 120 mostly, often 140 and at times hit 170)