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I was sent a parking infringement notice in the post, in respect…

I was sent a parking...

I was sent a parking infringement notice in the post, in respect of an offence allegedly committed by the driver of a car registered in my name. The notice was issued by a WA local authority. On receipt of the notice I wrote to the relevant council employee, stating that I was seriously unwell in hospital at the time of the alleged offence and that I had no way of knowing who was using my car at that time. The employee replied that it was incumbent on me to supply the name of the driver. I have engaged in fairly lengthy correspondence, in which I have repeatedly stated that I was not in a position to have driven the vehicle, nor was it possible for me to either know who was driving, nor to have had any influence over the driver. Despite this, the authority has obviously referred the matter to the Attorney General's Dept. They have now written to me requiring payment or my attendence at court, on pain of having my licence suspended. This is a blatant attempt to use the law to force me to pay a fine for which I have no responsibility. Is there some way this can be resolved without my incurring the expense and waste of my time, involved in attending court?

Thanks
John

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Answered in 35 minutes by:

9/17/2012

Solicitor: Leon, Solicitor replied 10 years ago

Leon, Solicitor

Category: Australia Law

Satisfied Customers: 52,733

Experience: BEc Dip Ed, Dip Law (SAB) MTax (UNSW)

Verified

Good Afternoon,

I'm sorry you about your situation, while what you have been advised is correct, as the owner of the vehicle is your responsibility to know who has access to your vehicle and to provide them with their details.

Is there anybody that you know that had access to your vehicle and could possibly have driven it?

Have you made enquiries of these people to see whether or not I were driving your vehicle at this time?

Customer reply replied 10 years ago

I have not made any enquiries as to who was driving, I'm not employed to do that and I don't believe it is my responsibility to do so. As I understand it, no law can compel me to do the impossible, or convict me for failing to do the impossible. I cannot compel anyone to answer my questions and do not believe that it would be possible for me to discover the identity of the driver.As I stated, I was seriously ill in hospital and not capable of making any decisions at the time. I was certainly not in a position to have any influence over the vehicle or its' driver.

Solicitor: Leon, Solicitor replied 10 years ago

Good Afternoon,

As the owner of the vehicle, the law says that you are responsible for anything that occurs that involves that vehicle, whether you are the driver or not.

If you refuse to provide them with the details of who the driver was, or cannot convince a court that you have made all necessary enquiries, and because you were in hospital not in control of the vehicle, you are unable to identify who the driver was, the court will find you liable to pay the fine.

Whether you were in a position to have influence over who accessed your vehicle or not, the law is clear that the owner of the vehicle is responsible for any infringements involving the vehicle, unless they can identify who the person in charge of their vehicle was at the time.

You should make the necessary enquiries, and I suggest you do this in writing and obtain a response from the parties you believe may have been driving the vehicle.

The court will accept you were seriously ill, but will not accept you telling them, as you have just told me "I'm not employed to do that and I don't believe it is my responsibility to do so".

The law cannot compel you to do anything. The law will impose the penalty on you as the owner of the vehicle, as your vehicle was parking an area where it was not permitted to be or where the parking fee was not paid.

I know it sounds harsh, but this is how the governments of each state apply the laws.

It is the owner of the vehicle's responsibility if the vehicle is issued with an infringement notice, and if they were not in control of the vehicle it is up to the owner to notify the authorities of to the party in control was and their details.

I'm sorry I cannot give you anything more positive. That is how the system operates and there is very little that can be done.

I hope this is of assistance. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Having answered your question I would like to explain how I am paid for my work. The rating given by you, for my answer will decide whether or not I will be paid for my work.

At the end of this post you will see 5 faces asking you to rate my work. Selecting either of the 2 the unhappy faces means you are not happy with my answer and do not wish me to be paid for my work. The other 3 mean I am paid.

I would prefer you rate me at the very end of our session not after each response. This way I can be sure you have an answer that assists you and you can rate the whole experience.

If you want more information after I respond, or wish to have something cleared up, select "Reply so Sydney-Lawyer" or "Reply to Expert" and we can continue until you are satisfied.

I am here to assist you as quickly as possible, and you rating each post will delay the process as it does not tell me what the issue is. I would prefer you ask me questions than rating the response and not providing me with further questions.

Customer reply replied 10 years ago

Hi, I have read S58A(2) Road Traffic Act 1974, which I should have done before and will be adopting the defence that I have taken reasonable steps to find the driver.

Solicitor: Leon, Solicitor replied 10 years ago

Good Afternoon,

That is exactly what I have been saying, you must be able to show that you have taken reasonable steps to identify driver and if you can show that you have done so then the court will withdraw and dismiss the infringement notice.

As I mentioned earlier saying that it is not your job to find the driver is not a defence.

The Attorney Generals Department and the infringement processing bureau, will not withdraw the fine under that section, as generally they do not accept what the owners of vehicles told them.

If you have taken all reasonable steps and asked all parties back would have possibly driven your vehicle on that day, and can provide evidence to the court that you have done so, if the court accepts what you tell them then the infringement notice will be Struck out.

This is why I suggest you do when writing, and obtain a written response and provide this as evidence to the court.

I suggest that you take the option of having the matter go to court and put your evidence to the court on the 1st occasion.

You should also provide a letter from your doctor as evidence that you were in hospital and therefore you could not have been the driver in charge of that vehicle.

I hope this is of assistance. I believe if you do undertake these steps the court will strike out the infringement notice and will not have to be paid.

Please let me know how the matter proceeds on what happens in the future.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Having answered your question I would like to explain how I am paid for my work. The rating given by you, for my answer will decide whether or not I will be paid for my work.

I would prefer you rate me at the very end of our session not after each response. This way I can be sure you have an answer that assists you and you can rate the whole experience.

If you want more information after I respond, or wish to have something cleared up, select "Reply so Sydney-Lawyer" or "Reply to Expert" and we can continue until you are satisfied.

Leon, Solicitor

Category: Australia Law

Satisfied Customers: 52,733

Experience: BEc Dip Ed, Dip Law (SAB) MTax (UNSW)

Verified

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