…. and basically what is below is the guts of what I haven’t got around to???

I have been promising the above article for some time. So, due to the insistence of a few mates I am going to share a few ‘pro-forma’ letters you can use to send to the Police if you elect to be prosecuted and not pay any traffic infringement notice.

(Please see my disclaimer – This is NOT legal advice and should you wish legal advice you should go to a suitable qualified and certified law professional!)

So here are the ‘pro forma letters’ if you don’t feel like reading the rest of the article but, it may help you use these letters better.

The ‘pro-forma’ letters speak for themselves in the titles regarding the type of traffic infringement notice you have elected to go to court for. I have left them in ‘Word’ format so you can change them to suit your particular circumstances.

I usually send in one of the above three letters shortly after receiving the summons. Irrespective of that, take one to your first appearance as the one you sent to the respective prosecution section never gets in your file.

I say elected to go to court because my strategy has been to, on my first appearance, NOT to enter a plea as I am waiting to get ‘the evidence’ (legal disclosure) from the Police. Give the prosecutor a copy of your letter you have taken along to court and the matter will be adjured for a month or 6 weeks.

Then what happens…?

In my experience. Your next two or even three appearances you will have received nothing from the Police. I have watched a mate (With sad eyes to the Magistrate!!) say:

“Your Honour this is my fourth (or fifth) time in court, I just wanted to see the evidence.”

In one case the following conversation speaks for itself….

Magistrate: (Loud and Stern) “MR PROSECUTOR”
Prosecutor (Quiet and Sheepish) “we withdraw your honour….”

If by some miracle you do get some disclosure you are facing a good chance of finding a mistake. Another mate finally got all the disclosure and made this statement the next time he went to Court and the Magistrate asked him how did he plea?

He said “Im at a loss your honour. It was there and I did speak to the Police Officer but, the video footage says one thing, his notes say another thing, the notes on the traffic infringement notice say another thing and what I remember happening is another thing. I don’t know which one to plead to?”

Yeah you know what happens next:
Magistrate: (Maybe Loud and Stern, or just feeling sorry for the Prosecutor) “Mr Prosecutor?”
Prosecutor (Quiet and Sheepish “we withdraw your honour….”

My experience, is other than the ‘fun’ involved, the majority of the time the Police will mess around with disclosure, which of course messes around with the Court (A ‘not happy Jan!’ Court is not a good Court for the Prosecution?) and if finally you do plead guilty it is rare for the fine to be more.

Again my experience, is if you tell the Court how much of a good, fine upstanding citizen you are etc etc, learned my lesson etc etc, you rarely get half of the fine and a few for dollars for costs (often prosecution costs are waived for obvious reasons!) and the victims of crime levy. All in all, usually less than the original fine.

PLUS!!!!! – and the bonus answer!!!!
Please don’t pay the fine in one big chunk out of your saved holiday money. Contact Fines Enforcement and Recovery Unit (details are on the infringement notice) and enter into a payment plan – my standard offer is $10.00 a fortnight – you don’t miss it. It is not means tested, so they usually accept what you say, to get it off their books. I think I’ll be dead before I pay of an ancient couple of speeding fines and too many Council fines from my Houdini Dog Scooby!!

Well, best of luck. Plus, driving slow and safe is always an option.