SA Footy

i had a 'strange' phone call today from the magistrates court saying that i owe over $250.00 including late/court fees from a parking ticket not paid.....i asked the usual questions & this fine dates back to november 1998 & it was a business vehicle & not my own vehicle, i think that the companies stat dec was lost & the fine never passed onto me & while they are going to send out a ''form 51'' for me to fill in i can't see why after all this time they would chase it & want me to pay late fees when clearly i've never received it in the first place



anyone have any other advice to use ?

I must say that sounds pretty odd bayman and coming out of the blue after so long may mean you have good grounds to avoid the fine.

I would get some legal advice and there are a few free legal advice providers around who may be able to help you.



P.S. My fee for providing this advice is $300 and I take no responsibility if the advice is wrong!!

bayman wrote:
anyone have any other advice to use ?

Ring up the Magistrates Court and get confirmation that its a legitimate matter. I'm a little surprised they'd be ringing you. By you ringing the Court you'll at least know that the person you're speaking to is speaking on behalf of the court.

If they confirm its legitimate, one option you would have is to write a letter, explain the situation (how you didn't receive any written notification from them in the past) , get a JP to sign it, and then send it to the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Sounds to me like the business who owned the vehicle has "dumped you in it".

Usually if there are unpaid parking fines, after about 12mths the registered owner of the vehicle, ends up with a Ceasation of Business posted against it's file at Dept of Motor Registration by the Courts.
This means that the business can't register any other vehicles until its sorted out. eg. Paid in full, or a direct debit payment plan set up.

If this has happened to the business, they would have had to contact the Courts to get it taken off, and then had to sign a Stat Dec to indicate who the driver (responsible person) was if they weren't prepared to pay it themselves. This would have taken away their responsibility, and referred it onto you.

It can sometimes be a long process before it catches up to the driver, but as is printed on their documents "Fines don't just go away". Long drawn out process that definately Sucks!

The courts/police are pretty incompetent when dealing with situations like this.

When Mum was working for the government, her usual government car got pinged for speeding while someone else was driving. The driver fessed up and the stat dec done and sent off and Mum thought that was the end of it.

6 months later she goes to renew her rego for her own car on a Friday arvo, only to be told there a warrant out for her arrest, as well as the cessation of dealings and loss of licence for not paying the speeding fine she had dealt with months ago. First thing Monday morning she managed to get her licence reinstated, the cessation overturned and the warrant cancelled, but still it took several weeks, and a trip to the Magistrate, for her to finally clear her name (even the Magistrate gave the authorities a blast).

Sounds dodgy to me
12 years after the offence???

Bayman, does the unpaid amount relate to a fine from a council, or is it a claim from a private company?

If it is the latter then do not, under any circumstances, indicate to them that you may have been the driver (even if you were). Although it's highly unlikely that you could even remember anyway...

Private company "parking fines" are simply claims for liquidated damages for an alledged breach of contract between the vehicles driver and the provider. They claim that the terms of that contract are adequately displayed at the entrance of the facility, and that by entering the premises the driver has agreed to those terms.

The fatal flaw is that they obtain the details of the registered owner, and issue the claim to them. Simply deny that you were driving, and refuse to identify who may have been. They can not demand that you make a stat dec in respect to this, so DO NOT make one (especially if it is a lie!).

Their ploy is to make a reduced claim, hoping you might accept the lesser amount, and threaten legal action if you do not. Do not pay it. If they keep harrassing you, send a letter referencing ASIC's debt collection guidelines and threaten to raise the matter with ACC and ASIC.

If you have previously admitted "liability", then your course of action is different... argue that their claim is a grossly inflated figure compared to the "suffering" your "breach" may have caused them, and ask them to justify the amount. You can reference the Trade Practices Act and threaten ACCC again.

This is not advice, but has recently proven successful for me.

These resources might be of use...

http://www.trafficlaw.com.au/forum/view ... ad8dc4529f

http://www.aussielegal.com.au/forum/for ... D~2444.htm

However, if it is from a local council authority, then it may be a legally enforceable fine (although the length of time of the claim being presented may offer some defence), and you will either have to prove that you were not the driver, or at worst prepare a stat dec claiming that to be a fact (but do not lie in a stat dec, unless you are keen on some jail time!)

Good luck!

12 years is a bit odd, but as was said above, if the company has only recently completed the stat dec nominating you as the driver, then that is why it would now be in your name. Unusual though for the original fine not to be sent out from the counsel.

The Fines Payment Unit at the courts will telephone to chase up however, so would say it is legitimate. It is best to complete the Form 51, which will get it back to the original fine from the council, and then you can pay it/dispute it with them once the Form 51 is granted. If left, then as stated above, a cessation of business and license suspension will be issued until you have worked something out.

I had a similar thing happen early in the year.

I was parked on a nature strip, along with some other cars.
A parketing ticket bloke came along and I seen him pull up so went to my car and moved it off there.
I went and spoke to him and asked if he was going to issue me a ticket. he said No. he said he would be issuing the other cars still there a ticket.

Anyways a month later I recieved a letter in the post saying I had not payed my parking ticket. THis is the one that he said he didnt issue and never gave to me or put on my window.
So i was at a point where I had a $50 ticket plus a $30 late fee on top of it.
I rang the council and explained what had happened, they said that I would need to write a letter to someone and then it may take months to sort all of it out.

I had no proof to say he didnt put it on my window and didnt take his name cause I thought that was the end of it there and then.

end of the day i just payed it cause I didnt have time to write a letter and go through all the bull shit I could see coming.

They were very sneaky about it all though.

Similar thing happen to my missus when she worked in the city(not dating back that far though), I went to register the car and they told me I can't have any dealings with the motor reg due to unpaid parking tickets. Anyhow I think we owed around $1500 for about six offences, the thing was that we didn't recieve any notices as they were sent to my old address so late fees occurred. She ended up ringing them up, they sent out some forms which she had to declare she was unaware of the original offences and then got it signed by a JP. Ended up just paying the original amounts

thanks for all your help & advice will be taking notes etc

My first question would be - after 12 years, how does anyone know it was you that was driving at the time? Can you be sure yourself? How can the company be so sure? What if you were on sick leave, or annual leave, on that date? Also, after 12 years I'd be surprised if the fine had only climbed as high as $250 - I'd expect it to be much higher with late fees, interest, court charges, victim of crime levies etc. I'd ask for a copy of the stat dec myself and see just how definitive the statement is in terms of saying that it was definitely you driving at the time. Then go from there.

I don't know what the statute of limitations for a parking offence are but I'd be surprised if it was 12 years, look into it before you pay anything.

The RAA used to offer brief free legal advice to members about motoring issues - is that still current and relevant?
[I haven't checked since I returned from my 10 years in Melbourne.]

Psyber wrote:The RAA used to offer brief free legal advice to members about motoring issues - is that still current and relevant?
[I haven't checked since I returned from my 10 years in Melbourne.]

Sure is

8202 4560

Brucetiki wrote:

Psyber wrote:The RAA used to offer brief free legal advice to members about motoring issues - is that still current and relevant?
[I haven't checked since I returned from my 10 years in Melbourne.]

Sure is

8202 4560

thanks i'll be ringing them first, the vehicle was parked in my street so it'd be me, but on the phone i was told it was for parallel parking yet i'm in a side street that has only parallel parking

Did anyone else here miss seeing the new no standing signs across the road from the Prospect Tennis courts yesterday. When I parked my motor bike where I had for the last 10 years I missed the new signs, so did a lot of cars parked there...............oh well I guess the Prospect council need the $43 more than I do.

I can't see why they even need parking restrictions in that spot, parking the other side of the street is angle parking off of the roadway, all it will achieve is to push cars further away from the oval into streets that were previously uneffected, FFS if you buy a house across the road from a major oval you should expect a bit of traffic from time to time

Ian wrote:Did anyone else here miss seeing the new no standing signs across the road from the Prospect Tennis courts yesterday. When I parked my motor bike where I had for the last 10 years I missed the new signs, so did a lot of cars parked there...............oh well I guess the Prospect council need the $43 more than I do.

I can't see why they even need parking restrictions in that spot, parking the other side of the street is angle parking off of the roadway, all it will achieve is to push cars further away from the oval into streets that were previously uneffected, FFS if you buy a house across the road from a major oval you should expect a bit of traffic from time to time

nothin worse than a North home game at my house. we live an 800m walk from the oval and our street is ALWAYS chockas with cars! the opposite side of the street is supposed to be 1hr parking but i haven't seen anyone ticketed yet...

luckily for me the owner recently put in a car park and reduced the next door backyard considerably. fits 3-4 cars and since my wife doesn't like parking there and the next door neighbor doesn't we have plenty of room... cheap too!! ;-)

When I lived in Barker Rd, Prospect, the only issue I had was when cars were squeezed into a too small spot and overhung driveway and making it impossible to get out.
I took to parking one of my cars there, early, to make sure it couldn't happen when I was on call for my medical practice.
Having to attend an emergency and not being able to get the car out is really frustrating.