Fined Twice for Non Rego

LMelon126 on 01/03/2019 - 04:40
Last edited 02/03/2019 - 22:59

So I will start off with accepting that it is my responsibility and I know I should have paid for my rego on time.

Back story is: I moved houses and forgot to update my address. Months later I get pulled over for not having a registered vehicle. I obviously never got renewal letter and totally forgot. The registration was actually cancelled so I couldn't even pay for it. Had I not been pulled over I still probably wouldn't have realised. Was fined for non-rego and not updating address. Accepted both and paid for both.

I realised… I better check if I have any other fines that were sent to old address. Called fines Victoria and unfortunately there is a fine outstanding. My partner had been caught speeding, so I sent a nomination for that fine. However, attached with this speeding fine is a fine for driving an unregistered vehicle.

I have sent a review request asking for this to be waived with no success. Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

Should I take this to court and what are the chances the magistrate would decide in my favour? I have no other traffic convictions for probably over 5 years.

//edit to add:
Paid the fine as it seems pretty unanimous that it'd be a waste of time.

Poll Options expired

  • 3
    Take to court
  • 124
    Pay the second fine
Automotive

Comments

  • JIMB0 on 01/03/2019 - 05:01
    +24

    You're lucky you got pulled over. Would have cost a lot more if you had an accident and found out that you had no TAC insurance and possibly no cover for property damages. You can get fined many times for driving the same unregistered vehicle, your partner should have checked the registration.

    • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 09:58

      Would have cost a lot more if you had an accident and found out that you had no TAC insurance and possibly no cover for property damages.

      It's okay, he will make an appeal. He already suffered the trauma of the crash, surely he shouldn't have to suffer a second time by paying for damages.

      • Melon126 on 01/03/2019 - 12:37
        +1

        Lol, you know what, when I was pulled over I was actually quite thankful as I wouldn't have realised until the next year when I had to pay for insurance. So yes, I was partially lucky. At no point am I trying to deny responsibility.

        • ChickenTalon on 02/03/2019 - 20:39
          +1

          Don’t know about VIC but in NSW you can be fined for not notifying the RTA (VicRoads) of a change in your address within 14 days. So you dodged that fine.

          Could be added if you take it to court.

    • Ken1977 on 16/03/2019 - 15:46

      TAC is a no fault system. And will pay even if no rego no license, drunk on drugs etc etc.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 05:05
    -1

    Pay it before it goes to court especially as your case has been reviewed by a traffic offences official and rejected. They don't reject if they feel they have no case.

    Even if you feel the case is strongly in your favour, you're just buying trouble. I am not a lawyer but I think it will be your burden to prove they are wrong and to do that you need to spend days and days and possibly get a lawyer.

    The judge does not know traffic rules.

    Plus you risk taking a traffic offence on your file.

    Pay it and garage that car until it has been fully registered.

    • whooah1979 on 01/03/2019 - 05:37
      +1

      The judge does not know traffic rules.

      What do you mean?

      • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 09:37
        -1

        Judge will assumes he is in fault until he proves he is not (because he has already been issued a fine by an authority), and the person to do the work to prove is OP.

        • miarn on 03/03/2019 - 14:09

          This is flat out wrong. The prosecution (i.e. VicPol) have to prove that OP is guilty. Which wouldn't be hard…

  • original15 on 01/03/2019 - 06:35
    +3

    I’m no lawyer/legal expert, but reckon you’d only have a chance (and probably even still just a slim one) if the fines were issued on the same day. But that is still probably unlikely and from description doesn’t sound like it’s the case

  • iforgotmysocks on 01/03/2019 - 07:00
    +1

    Lol what do you think, mate

  • EightImmortals on 01/03/2019 - 07:20
    +14

    So not only did you not update your address but you also didn't get Austpost to forward your mail to your new address? And your partner couldn't manage to do it either? In this case let's just call the fine a 'lazy tax'.

    • Melon126 on 01/03/2019 - 12:34
      -3

      I updated everything else and most of our mail goes to my parent's place as they never move. As I said, genuinely forgot one.

  • TheBilly on 01/03/2019 - 07:28
    +8

    If you get pulled over and fined for that… Then 100m down the road the officer sees you driving again. They can pull you over again and fine you. Once vehicle is unregistered it technically doesnt move. You have to register it or tow it.

  • ozeebee on 01/03/2019 - 07:38
    +1

    Not sure ignorance is a valid excuse that's why your review was rejected. Just pay it ffs. Consider the 2nd fine as education costs.

  • Priester-Aus on 01/03/2019 - 07:56
    +1

    It's a bit like speeding you can get fined every time you speed. The same way can get fined every time you drive an unregistered vehicle.
    If both fined were on the same trip it would be a bit harsh

    • spal on 01/03/2019 - 08:06
      +1

      That is not correct in Victoria. If you get pinged by the same traffic camera a number of times. You will be required to pay the first infringement notice. You can request a review and withdrawal of the subsequent notices to the date you received your first infringement notice.

      • 87percent on 01/03/2019 - 08:37

        Yep, this is correct.

        But Op, think you're screwed. Your registration is either valid, or its not

      • GG57 on 01/03/2019 - 09:25
        +1

        I'm not sure that is correct.
        If you have been caught speeding multiple times, you should have to pay for the multiple infringements.

        You can, as you say, request a review and provide any supporting information to seek leniency (e.g. no previous traffic violations for 5+ years or whatever), but it is still just a review and that decision could go either way.
        From memory, you also need to pay the fine before the due date, while you wait for the review to be undertaken.

        • 87percent on 01/03/2019 - 10:50

          Nope.. I got done on the same stretch of road (it was somewhere going towards Philip Island) and they waived one of the fines

          • GG57 on 01/03/2019 - 13:04

            @87percent: On what basis was one of the fines waived?
            I have also appealed and had one waived; same camera, same day, short timeframe beteen, but the reason for waiving was specifically my driving record.
            On that basis, the earliest of the two fines was waived. I had to pay the second.

            • bobbified on 03/03/2019 - 01:43
              +1

              @GG57: I previpusly read about people getting multiple fines from the same camera over a number of days.

              The fines all arrived at the same time a number of weeks after the incidents.

              It went to court and the first fine was upheld, but the logic behind the canceling of the subsequent fines was the driver should get the opportunity to correct their behavior (after receiving the first fine).

      • pegaxs on 01/03/2019 - 15:42
        +2

        The rules for having some fines waived is laid out on the Victorian Police website.

        Leniency/reviews

        Near the bottom of the page, under “multiple infringements”

        Basically, if you get busted on the same stretch of road by multiple cameras on the same day, or the same camera within a short period of each each (ie: a few days) they will waive some of the fines.

        I doubt OP would be able to do this because of the time difference and the fact one was camera offence and he other was police patrol. And “didn’t change my address” may not pass as an excuse.

        • GG57 on 01/03/2019 - 15:48

          Excellent find.

  • Ryanek on 01/03/2019 - 08:17
    -1

    My partner had been caught speeding, so I sent a nomination for that fine

    This is illegal. You're basically signing a fraudulent statutory declaration.

    • pjetson on 01/03/2019 - 08:31
      +5

      I don't think that's what the OP means at all. Since the OP is complaining about the registration, I think we can assume that they own the car, therefore they would receive the speeding fine. Their partner was driving the car, though, so the OP is nominating them.

      • Ryanek on 01/03/2019 - 08:55

        Oh yeah, I think you're right. I take my comment back :)

        • Melon126 on 01/03/2019 - 12:31

          What pjetson said is right. I was not driving the car at the time, therefore sent the nomination.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 08:23

    I have sent a review request asking for this to be waived with no success. Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    Apart from your perceived unfairness, on what grounds would they waive your fine? If you argue that you would have it registered if only you knew, well, you couldn't have because you didn't update your address.

    Should I take this to court and what are the chances the magistrate would decide in my favour?

    Not in the slightest. This has "hopeless" written all over.

    • JimmyF on 01/03/2019 - 08:36
      +4

      This has "hopeless" written all over.

      No this has the "Its never my fault" generation written all over it. OP suck it up, you did wrong, pay the fines and move on.

      • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 09:56

        Potaetoe potathtoe

  • JimmyF on 01/03/2019 - 08:33
    +3

    Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    Lets see….. You drove the car on two different occasisons without rego. One of those resulted in a speed camera taking a picutre while speeding, which also checks the cars rego. So you get two fines. Fun fact, if you ran a red light speeding, you would have ended up with 3 fines, speeding, red light and driving unregistered vehicle.

    Yes you can be fined twice for that. Not knowing that your rego expired is not a valid reason to be driving a unregistered vehicle.

  • Gronk on 01/03/2019 - 08:37

    Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    If you continue to commit the same offence, then yes, you can be.

    • Antikythera on 02/03/2019 - 14:04

      wait so if i keep murdering people I will eventually be fined for all my murders?

      • BartholemewH on 02/03/2019 - 14:19

        Not if the murders are committed on the same day, some charges will be vaived.

  • askme69 on 01/03/2019 - 08:38
    +1

    I'll just say, NSW is the most lenient state by far.

    • pegaxs on 01/03/2019 - 09:36

      Hahaha… you have to be kidding, right?? I have lived in Victoria and NSW. Vic is addicted to automated cameras, while NSW has about 1 highway patrol car for every 10 people. Both states have this meth like addiction to catching drivers doing the wrong thing. I don’t think that either state is more lenient than the other, they are both equally as uncompromising when it comes to being lenient.

      • askme69 on 01/03/2019 - 14:57

        QLD you can only appeal through court, VIC ridiculous tolerance on speed and reviews are no where near as broad or lenient at NSW.

  • ThithLord on 01/03/2019 - 08:48

    lmao - why on earth would they take leniency on you, OP, if you were also slugged with a speeding fine whilst driving unregistered? You don't exactly have a spotless record, evidently. Nice try, though.

    • Melon126 on 01/03/2019 - 12:30

      My record is actually very clean except for the car being unregistered.

  • Seraphin7 on 01/03/2019 - 09:01
    +1

    I have sent a review request asking for this to be waived with no success. Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    Yes, you can. You/your partner got fined for driving an unregistered vehicle on one occasion. On a separate occasion you got fined for driving an unregistered vehicle. These are two separate offences. The fact that you were unaware of lack of registration is irrelevant.

    Just play this out … someone fails to inform the relevant authority of a change of address, goes out and commits offence after offence, offence mailings go to old address, person eventually gets pulled over and informed of all these offences, builds defence around "I didn't know so all these offences should be cancelled".

    C'mon man!

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 09:20

    Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    You sure can.

    Especially if it was different days.

    Anyway, essentially every single time you got into unregistered vehicle and drove, is a new offense.

  • pegaxs on 01/03/2019 - 09:24
    +2

    it is my responsibility and I know I should have paid for my rego on time.

    /thread

  • GG57 on 01/03/2019 - 09:29

    Most people wouldn't get fined twice for driving an unregistered vehicle, depending on the circumstances, as any attending police would take off the rego plates and not let you drive it.
    Obviously if you keep getting caught on cameras only, you will accrue multiple fines.

    • Euphemistic on 01/03/2019 - 11:00

      No, they typically don’t remove the plates if the rego has expired recently.

      • pegaxs on 01/03/2019 - 11:03

        Usually if it’s still within the 90 day (need to confirm Vic law confirmed) payment window, they will leave the plates on the car. After that, they come off and car is grounded until RWC, permit to move or tow truck.

        • GG57 on 01/03/2019 - 13:06

          OP stated that the rego was cancelled, so it must have been an extended period.

          • pegaxs on 01/03/2019 - 14:47
            +2

            @GG57: Then it is strange that the police didn’t take the plates if they were pulled over.

            • Melon126 on 02/03/2019 - 22:54

              @pegaxs: The plates were taken off. Had to get temp rego and re-register. Expensive lesson.

  • Taro Milk Tea on 01/03/2019 - 10:40

    I skipped everything and straight to comment box to say:

    Pay the fine, its your genuine mistake.

  • brendanm on 01/03/2019 - 11:20
    +4

    By your logic OP, after you get fined once, you can just continue to drive the car with no rego, as you can't be fined again. Does that sound correct to you?

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2019 - 11:33
    +1

    i've been fined once for speeding, so I can now speed whenever I want because I can't get fined again…..

  • Melon126 on 01/03/2019 - 12:29
    +1

    Thanks for all the responses. As I said, I know that it was my mistake. I had actually asked a cop friend who suggested and gave the impression it would be waived. Thought it would be out of leniency as I've not had any other traffic infringements and genuinely forgetting. Not trying to come up with any excuses for not updating address.

    Anyway, guess I will pay the fine and be done with.

    • Miss B on 02/03/2019 - 14:06
      +1

      Technically I think the speeding/driving without rego was your girlfriend's one. It's the driver's responsibility to ensure the car they drive is registered. I'd still pay it over telling my partner to pay it in the same situation though, given they should be able to trust that you have registered your car if you're allowing them to drive it.

      Also, as mentioned above, if you could only be fined once, you could just keep driving an unregistered vehicle.

      It's an expensive lesson, even being fined once would be, but you probably won't forget your rego or updating your address again.

      • Melon126 on 02/03/2019 - 22:56

        Nah, when I sent the review doe the speeding, as the non-rego was on the same infringement they assumed I was also nominating that fine. The response of the review is that the owner is responsible for the car being registered. I wouldn't be asking anyone driving my car to pay a fine for not registering the car.

  • whooah1979 on 02/03/2019 - 15:16

    It may be worth going to court.
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2729268

    I was facing around $500 and 3 points. I pleaded guilty to the speeding and based my defence around it all being part of the same journey. The judge accepted this and reduced the fine to $300. There were also court costs of $90 so I'm ahead a bit still.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/03/2019 - 19:29

    Op, How much is the fine in Victoria for driving an unregistered vehicle?

    • Melon126 on 02/03/2019 - 22:58

      A ridiculous $806. More than the cost of each year's registration.

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/03/2019 - 08:59
        +1

        Ridiculous? I bet you someone who gets pinged for driving an unregistered vehicle will never forgot to update their address again.

        • Melon126 on 03/03/2019 - 10:10
          -1

          Yes it's ridiculous. It's purely money making. I have no issue with a fine and I get that it needs to be fairly substantial. Not taking my situation into account. There are people being slugged that amount for missing it by a couple of days and I think in those circumstances it's a ridiculous amount.

          • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/03/2019 - 16:53

            @Melon126: Ok, feel free to propose the amount the fine should be. Let us know the research and methods you used to calculate said figure.

            There are people being slugged that amount for missing it by a couple of days

            In this day and age it is near impossible to "miss it by a couple of days" unless it is due to complete lack of care.

  • justwii on 02/03/2019 - 22:43

    May be putting up the registration sticker on the windscreen should never be something in the past at all.

    • solidussnake on 03/03/2019 - 08:58
      +1

      Or just change address online it takes 10 seconds to do… its the first thing I do when moving houses

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/03/2019 - 09:01
      +1

      @justwii Imagine if there was a portable holder containing cards of various entities to indicate who you should update your details with when moving home.

      Like a wallet?

  • p1 ama on 02/03/2019 - 23:18

    I have sent a review request asking for this to be waived with no success. Surely you can't be fined twice for the same reason?

    Just to be clear, you aren't fined twice for the same reason. That would be driving an unregistered vehicle once and being fined twice. Instead, you've driven an unregistered vehicle multiple times and been fined twice. Ultimately, I do think it is harsh that you've been slugged quite a large amount for what is, honestly, a really silly mistake. However, it's your responsibility to keep your vehicle registered. If you forget easily, set up direct debit.

    I don't think that updating your address is even the issue here. I don't get any reminders sent to my address here in VIC. It might be different in NSW.

  • ankor on 03/03/2019 - 00:12

    Best to check with someone knowledgeable, like a lawyer or community legal centre, but you can get done for a number of things arising out of the same event.

    So it sounds like at least three things happened which made them decide to issue these fines:
    1) Did person A drive an unregistered vehicle at ddmmyyyy? y/n?
    2) Did person A drive over the speed limit? y/n?
    3) Did person B drive an unregistered vehicle at ddmmyyyy y/n?
    4) did person B fail to update his/her address when necessary? y/n?

    Having said that, sometimes you will get a softball magistrate and sometimes you won't. Hope things work out whatever you decide.

  • Donaldhump on 03/03/2019 - 08:26

    Using your logic now that you have been fined you can keep driving indefinitely unregistered as you have already been fined.

    You can be fined how ever many times you violate an offence and after reasonable time do not remedy.

    I do think that the lack of rego stickers is dangerous, it was nice to see it as I couldn’t tell you when mine is up for renewal.

    • Melon126 on 03/03/2019 - 10:18

      No, I don't think that at all. I had not realised that my registration had expired and im asking if there is a chance it would be waived on leniency based on the fact that I had no knowledge of it prior to being pulled over. Again, as I've said. I realised it was my mistake.

      • Donaldhump on 03/03/2019 - 10:23

        Tough one, lack of stickers make it easy now to forget. Can always try, but imagine they would say no.

        Give it a shot

        • pegaxs on 03/03/2019 - 23:52

          Lack of stickers makes it easy to forget? I get a letter, an email and an SMS before it is due. If I have not paid rego by the due date, I get an SMS and email the day it expires and a snail mail about a week later… I also get app notifications on my iPad.)

          You can go to ebay and order rego reminder stickers. Hell, you can even make your own. Set reminders on your phone. Set a timer. Mark a calendar. A label printer would be cheaper than a ticket.

          Christ, I don’t know of anyone that used their rego sticker as a reminder. Maybe as it was falling off they may have looked at it and remembered.

          • Donaldhump on 04/03/2019 - 00:37

            @pegaxs: wait till u hit sixty and ur memory is not what it once was.

            Not defending the action, it was just nice when you could glance up

  • Hirolol on 03/03/2019 - 08:38

    Was your girlfriend caught by speeding camera?

  • solidussnake on 03/03/2019 - 08:55
    +1

    OP dont forget to tell your insurer about your recent traffic offences too 😂

  • Austaurean on 15/03/2019 - 08:16

    Go To www.greenslips.com.au for your rego renewal sticker, they will send you as many as you ask for…

    Hint - If you pay yearly, do not put the year on it, just the day and month,
    If you pay any other time options, then the year might be handy..

    https://www.greenslips.com.au/registration-a-ctp-greenslip-r…

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