Pending Court Case in Australia

[blobby1000]

What speed were you doing to get a $249 fine?

$294!

I was doing 76KPH in a 70 zone, so 3.5MPH over the limit.
What happened was VICROADS sent the fine to the wrong address in January 2011. I had changed the address when I moved with VR but they did not update it. I have no proof of this because I did not record the phone call. As I am sure you appreciate, when you move here, buy cars, rent houses etc you are very busy and hence do not always keep track of little things like the date you rand vicroads to update your address.
So they sent the original fine for $149 followed by various reminders (to the wrong address) and then in May 2011 an enforcement order telling me I cannot sell my car until the fine is paid (the total had risen to $294).
Eventually (after I bought a second car and registered in at my present address) they figured out where I lived (which they should not have needed to do because I had told them already) and sent me the fine.
I appealed due to the above and pointed out I had never hidden from anything (kept rego up to date, paid other small fines immediately etc) but they were having none of it. So I said I would go to court. But this may take 12 months and regardless of the court case having not been heard, I am still guilty here so still cannot sell the car!
The upshot of it is, is that I cannot sell the car to return to the UK unless I pay the fine which I am not allowed to appeal in a court unless I am willing to leave my car sat on the drive for 12 months (because I am not allowed to reregister it either!)
I think you can see that for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph this is a bit ridiculous.

Incidently they have informed me that had I gone to court and lost and still not paid the fine they may have sent me to prison!

Thats right, sent to prison for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph.

[harpodom]

$294!

I was doing 76KPH in a 70 zone, so 3.5MPH over the limit.
What happened was VICROADS sent the fine to the wrong address in January 2011. I had changed the address when I moved with VR but they did not update it. I have no proof of this because I did not record the phone call. As I am sure you appreciate, when you move here, buy cars, rent houses etc you are very busy and hence do not always keep track of little things like the date you rand vicroads to update your address.
So they sent the original fine for $149 followed by various reminders (to the wrong address) and then in May 2011 an enforcement order telling me I cannot sell my car until the fine is paid (the total had risen to $294).
Eventually (after I bought a second car and registered in at my present address) they figured out where I lived (which they should not have needed to do because I had told them already) and sent me the fine.
I appealed due to the above and pointed out I had never hidden from anything (kept rego up to date, paid other small fines immediately etc) but they were having none of it. So I said I would go to court. But this may take 12 months and regardless of the court case having not been heard, I am still guilty here so still cannot sell the car!
The upshot of it is, is that I cannot sell the car to return to the UK unless I pay the fine which I am not allowed to appeal in a court unless I am willing to leave my car sat on the drive for 12 months (because I am not allowed to reregister it either!)
I think you can see that for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph this is a bit ridiculous.

Incidently they have informed me that had I gone to court and lost and still not paid the fine they may have sent me to prison!

Thats right, sent to prison for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph.

Well pay the bloody fine then! As I said, its not worth the grief

[Paulwbafc73]

Pay up mate for what it's worth. It's pretty much only the cost of a full tank of petrol now in the uk so your going to have to get used to paying £80 a full tank anyway.

[StevieF8]

May as well pay the fine, you are not going to get it waived in court

You MIGHT get the additional fines reduced becasue of the address error, but you have to have the evidence of the date that you informed them of the change of address

So $145 MIGHT be knocked off
You will still have to pay the $149, no court in Australia is going to reduce the fine to $0 for speeding unless you can show exceptional circumstances....even then its probably doubtful

Yes, its a matter of principal, and yes, its 3.5mph over the limit, in the UK a cop wouldnt even fine you for doing 33.5 in a 30 zone, but Oz police are obsessed with speeding fines

If you wasnt returning to the UK, then I would say fight the case in court, but for the sake of a few hundred dollars is it worth it for you to do that?

[blobby1000]

Incidently, I am paying the fine, of course, because I am not a total idiot.

My point is into outrageous to have an enforcement placed on the car BEFORE I get a chance to go to court.

[fmck]

I understand the frustration when supposed peace officers morph into revenue collectors. If there is no victim there should be no crime lawfully. However, if we all drove a car under the influence or drove over the speed limit until there was an accident, then there would be chaos on the roads. Pay the fine and take the bus in protest.

[Graemsay]

Blobby1000, what proof do you have that you informed VicRoads that you changed your address prior to January 2011?

The only way to get the additional $145 waived would be to prove that you had submitted all the details, and that there was a mistake made by VicRoads, or a problem with one of their systems. If your licence was updated but not the car's registration then you might have an argument.

If it comes down to "I'm sure that I phoned VicRoads in December 2010 to change my details" then you'll probably lose.

I appreciate that these things are unfair, but unless you can provide reasonable evidence that you changed your details and someone else screwed up then going to court is going to be an expensive waste of time. For the sake of the sum at stake, I'd be inclined to swallow the loss, as things going the other way will cost an awful lot more. Sometimes it's better to just cut your losses.

[Shenni]

$294!

I was doing 76KPH in a 70 zone, so 3.5MPH over the limit.
What happened was VICROADS sent the fine to the wrong address in January 2011. I had changed the address when I moved with VR but they did not update it. I have no proof of this because I did not record the phone call. As I am sure you appreciate, when you move here, buy cars, rent houses etc you are very busy and hence do not always keep track of little things like the date you rand vicroads to update your address.
So they sent the original fine for $149 followed by various reminders (to the wrong address) and then in May 2011 an enforcement order telling me I cannot sell my car until the fine is paid (the total had risen to $294).
Eventually (after I bought a second car and registered in at my present address) they figured out where I lived (which they should not have needed to do because I had told them already) and sent me the fine.
I appealed due to the above and pointed out I had never hidden from anything (kept rego up to date, paid other small fines immediately etc) but they were having none of it. So I said I would go to court. But this may take 12 months and regardless of the court case having not been heard, I am still guilty here so still cannot sell the car!
The upshot of it is, is that I cannot sell the car to return to the UK unless I pay the fine which I am not allowed to appeal in a court unless I am willing to leave my car sat on the drive for 12 months (because I am not allowed to reregister it either!)
I think you can see that for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph this is a bit ridiculous.

Incidently they have informed me that had I gone to court and lost and still not paid the fine they may have sent me to prison!

Thats right, sent to prison for exceeding the speed limit by 3.5mph.

How can doing 76km be 3.5 over the limit yes it is in miles but you are ina KM country and that is 6 KM over the speed limit. There is no percentage over allowed in Victoria. Sorry to say pay the fine and save a life by learning that Victoria is strict. I have been fined in the UK for doing 3 MILES over the posted limit so it all depends on the day/ situation

[The Ropey HOFF]

You have moaned and groaned constantly about how dangerous the drivers are in Melbourne and then you are caught speeding I find it quite ironic TBH.

[Freckleface]

You have moaned and groaned constantly about how dangerous the drivers are in Melbourne and then you are caught speeding I find it quite ironic TBH.

You're not the only one.