Speeding fine charges dismissed as court told cheques lost in post

CHARGES against three people accused of failing to pay speeding fines were dismissed yesterday after a judge accepted the cheques sent to gardaí must have been lost in the post.

The three will not now have two extra penalty points on their licences after Judge Peter Smithwick said he believed they had sent the money to the fines office at Dublin Castle in time, though the cheques cannot be located by gardaí.

One senior garda, after watching dozens of people being fined and given extra points for non-payment in the first hearing since penalty points were introduced last October, said the rulings on the three cases could not have been foreseen.