Excuse me please?
Melissa Pye enlightens us about dodging fines.
Melissa Pye enlightens us about dodging fines.
Most people at some time in their life will receive a driving related fine. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a bad driver or that you have a total disregard for the law. You may not have noticed that the 100km zone turned into an 80km zone and then a 60km zone which became a 40km zone during school hours all within 5kms.
New figures from the NSW State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO) reveal that about 10 per cent of motorists who have received a fine take the time to write a letter in the hope that the fine will go away. Last year, over 2.5 million fines were processed by the department. Some 220,000 of these requested that the fine be waived based on a “special set of circumstances” or excuses. Of those, 41,000 people were successful and had their fines withdrawn.
How Do You Get Your Fined Waived?
Last year the SDRO updated their guideline that allows drivers with a 10 year clean driving record to apply for an exemption for their fine if they feel that they have been wrongly fined. All you need to do is attach a letter with your driving offence and send it to the address provided. I successfully got away with a caution for a speeding offence of 5kms over the speed limit. My unblemished 10 year driving record meant that I saved my points and some cash.
What’s a Good Excuse?
There are some very good reasons why you may have been wrongly fined. For example, a parking meter not working. If this is the case, there is usually a number on the meter you can call to advise the authorities. Make sure you take down the name of who you spoke with and time of the call. If you do receive a fine, include these details in your letter.
There are some occasions where you can be completely unaware that you have been fined and it’s the mail that becomes the bearer of bad news. Ahh… camera offences.They can be red light or speeding related. There have been cases where the wrong driver has been fined through this method. Where the offence has been recorded by a camera, you may request to see a copy of the offending image. In some cases there is a charge for this. But beware, blaming another car for the offense is the most common excuse the SDRO receives!
The best way to avoid paying a fine and losing some points is pretty simple: park legally, drive at the speed limit and don’t run red lights. And if you have got a very good reason why you don’t deserve the fine and you have a great driving record, take the time to write a letter. Those 41,000 motorists in NSW alone last year are so happy that they did!