Court Case Struck Out! - Toll Road Fine

Lrubenastley on 30/12/2016 - 04:54
Last edited 30/12/2016 - 07:49 by 1 other user

Hey guys,

More of a rant than anything else but advice would be great as well!

So about mid 2014, I sold my motorcycle to a nice chap. A few months later I received a citylink toll invoice for $7 or so.
I called citylink stating that I had already sold the motorcycle months ago and the operator told me to just ignore it.
I followed up with the bloke and he said he had already changed the registration before the toll fee.

A few more invoices came in but I foolishy ignored them and went overseas for 3 months, only to come back and the fine had went up
to $247. Sent a letter to the relavent authority with proof of sale of the bike but was rejected and only option was to go to court.

However the court date was set during my two year backpacking trip, so I asked for an adjournment but never heard back from them. (mail could of accidently been thrown out at home). I have limited contact with home and this has been a royal pain in the backside.

Preferably I would like to contest this in court when i'm back in a few months but because I missed the court date the case is now struck out.

Any advice or should I just suck it up and pay the $247?

• 

  BensonP on 30/12/2016 - 06:58

  If you have a date of sale, then that's all you need.

  I received fines when I sold my car, but it was easily chased up with Citylink, with the sale paperwork.

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  try2bhelpful on 30/12/2016 - 07:41

  This site might be worth looking at.

  http://www.everyday-law.org.au/fines?gclid=CJ-HvtigmtECFUpMv…

  You should never ignore fines as they can spiral out of control; as this shows. You should always make sure you have a letter from the people who issued the fine to show that things have been resolved; even then the stupidity can continue but you then have proof they said it was resolved. I wish you luck with resolving this.

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  Baysew on 30/12/2016 - 09:55

  +1

  Preferably I would like to contest this in court when i'm back in a few months but because I missed the court date the case is now struck out.

  What do you mean by "Struck Out" ?

  The court may have heard the case and found against you, in your absence.

  It may now cost well in excess of $247.00.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 30/12/2016 - 14:59

    Struck out means it has been dismissed by the court.

    Not sure if you even have anything to answer for now.

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  [Deactivated] on 30/12/2016 - 10:02

  I would be tempted to contest this, but do be careful using the defence of being overseas for being uncontactable. I did a little checking a while ago about the requirement to be contactable if you hold a licence and there is a responsibility for licence holders to be contactable for legal proceeding etc. I don't know if they enforce it, but the law in Vic would require you to formally change licence address every time you moved overseas for any period of time. You might just end up admitting failure to update address in court.

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  [Deactivated] on 30/12/2016 - 10:46

  -3

  You muppet.

  Just reach a settlement.

  $25 a week. :D

• 

  chumlee on 30/12/2016 - 13:39

  Your cheapest option is to pay the $247

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  Randxyz123 on 30/12/2016 - 13:57

  +1

  I called citylink stating that I had already sold the motorcycle months ago and the operator told me to just ignore it.

  Can you attempt to go through your call records and find out roughly when this was? All their calls are recorded so they'd have this on record.

  No offence but you're a bit of a idiot for just ignoring it.

  Call city link and call the courts and find out what the story is

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  MorriJ on 30/12/2016 - 15:12

  On what grounds did they reject the notice of sale? You will want to get an annulment on the original decision - explain that you were not in the country, yada, yada, yada.

  After the annulment is granted you will be set a new court date and have the chance to defend the original claim; where you present the date of sale notification and it should all be fine and dandy.

• 

  askme69 on 30/12/2016 - 17:37

  Did you notify the relevant Roads authority about the sale and the new owner? In NSW it is a requirement, not sure about other states.

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  rubenastley on 17/01/2017 - 22:05

  Good news, I should of done this earlier but I've sent an email to City link and they conceded it was a mistake on their end
  and have notified Civic Compliance Victoria to retract the infringement. Should of done this earlier instead of butting heads with
  the CCV.

  Cheers guys!