Problems and anomalies in the penalty points procedure emerged yesterday in the Dublin District Court where the first cases for non-payment of speeding fines under the system were heard.
The court was told that 80 per cent of people who sent in their forms with a speeding fine payment did not fill them in correctly. They were returned by the fixed penalties office.
In an unforeseen development, Judge Peter Smithwick, president of the District Court, dismissed charges in three cases because the defendants said they had paid their fines, therefore admitting the offence. However, these had not been received or recorded in the fines office.
Approximately 40 penalty points cases were called in court yesterday. A driver who commits a speeding offence receives an €80 fine, due to be paid within 28 days, and two penalty points. If the driver fails to pay within that time, he or she can pay €120 within the following 28 days. Failure to pay means a court appearance and, if convicted, a fine of up to €800 and four penalty points.
The majority of people yesterday received fines of €160, with a month to pay, and four penalty points for non-payment of the fine. Some people received fines of €200 and €250. Most were convicted of driving over 40 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone.
Supt Derek Byrne of the fines office defended the system and said the majority of cases yesterday carried convictions.
"This morning showed that the system works and that's it," he said. However, he admitted that the dismissal of charges against three defendants, who said they had paid the fine, was a new development.
"We couldn't have foreseen this and it is a new development that has to be looked at," he said.
Under the legislation it was presumed that if the fines office did not have a record of a cheque or payment, then it was deemed not to have been paid, said Supt Byrne.
In court earlier, Sgt Nicholas Mulhall of the fixed penalties office said in the period November, December, January, 80 per cent of all forms received with payments were not completed properly. These were returned to the sender.
"Every morning we receive two or three bags of mail coming through the office, including payment of fines, and up to 12 staff are sending notices back because they are not completed," he said. The vast majority of people returned payment for the correct amount, he said.
Sgt Mulhall was giving evidence in a case where a woman sent in the form with a cheque for €80, but did not realise she had to sign the back of the form. The cheque was returned to her. The judge fined her €80.
Judge Smithwick said: "I think for the penalty points system to operate, people have to attend to the detail of it."
In the three cases where charges were dismissed, one man said he sent the cheque with the ticket a month after the offence. The judge said he believed the witness, that it was not his fault if the postal service or the fines office had made a mistake. State solicitor, Mr Seamus Cassidy said: "Anybody could say that."
Judge Smithwick said: "I dismiss the charge against him. I think any witness in the fines office would have to admit the occasional paper goes missing. However, that doesn't follow that everybody who says they paid is going to get off."
Another man showed the judge the cheque stub in his cheque book. In the third case, a woman said she paid the fine within eight days of the incident and had taken photocopies of the bank statements and cheque.
Mr Cassidy said he would still ask the court for a conviction. The judge replied: "The system cannot operate just in favour of the prosecutors." He dismissed the charges in all three cases.
A number of people who said they had cheques returned to them were fined by the judge. One woman, whose payment was returned, was told by the judge she was under an obligation to pay the €80 in time so he fined her €160.
A woman's solicitor said she had not filled out the form correctly and when it was returned to her she did not pay the €120 fine. The judge said the defendant made the decision not to avail of the opportunity to pay the €120 fine. He fined her €160.
Most people asked by the judge why they had not paid the fine replied they had forgotten about it for a variety of reasons.
Supt Byrne said these cases were the first tranche and a couple of hundred cases would come before the courts in the summer.