Loophole helping drivers beat motoring fines, says judge

A judge has hit out at the way that people get notice of speeding fines imposed on them.

He said it was resulting in people getting off because sending out notice of fines imposed by ordinary post wasn’t working.

Judge Michael Pattwell said that in his courts, and others, cases for non payment were being thrown out because there was no proof that they had received notice of the fine.

Defendants who went into the witness box and swore they did not receive the notice of a fine had their cases thrown out, around the country. Judge Pattwell said the matter was so serious that it needed to be redressed.

The Department of Justice said today that they had raised the matter with the garda authorities, who would respond in due course. The National Road Safety Authority also placed the onus on the gardaí.

“This is not for us but, the gardaí,” a spokesperson said.

Garda sources say there are no plans at this stage to send out the statutory notice of fine by registered post.

The practice of throwing out the summons is not common only to Judge Pattwell’s court in Cork but is increasingly the practice throughout the country.

Meanwhile, in Fermoy Court in Co Cork, a further fault in the speed fines system was also been revealed. Judge Pattwell has thrown out cases of motorists fined for exceeding an 80 km an hour speed limit on the Watergrasshill to Fermoy Road.

Cork County Council say the National Roads Authority, who are the relevant management body, imposed the reduced limit with the opening of the toll road on the new Fermoy bypass route, which has a 120 km speed limit.

The judge has ruled that the traditional route, which had a 100 km speed limit — imposed by legislation — remains a primary route, under law, in his view, and ruled in court that the 100 km limit it still the official limit between Watergrasshill and Fermoy in Co Cork.

In Fermoy Court, he accepted an argument to this regard from solicitor Jerry Healy and threw out three cases of people charged with exceeding the 80 km speed limit.

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper