Hello!
I got pulled over yesterday for driving a vehicle that has been unregistered since January. I had no idea it was unregistered as I can remember paying for the registration (which, as I have now found out, the payment never actually went through) when I paid for the CTP (I had no issues with this, though). During the last 3 months, I haven't received anything via letter, email or SMS to inform me of any issues with my registration, despite, according to the NSW RMS website, they're supposed to send out a notification informing you that your registration will be cancelled about 2 weeks after the registration expiry date ("You’ll receive written notification of the intention to cancel about two weeks after the expiry date, as a registration renewal reminder notice." - RMS website) as well as notification to hand in your license plates within 14 days of the cancellation date.
The officer has sent out a fine for driving unregistered and another fine for driving uninsured, which I have yet to receive (I'm expecting them within the next day or so). As it's been over 3 months, I had to get a blue slip and transfer my current CTP onto a new 12-month policy for the new registration starting the date of registration (my insurance company said they could do this as they said these last three months on my policy with them have, technically, gone unused due to being unregistered). I'm going in tomorrow to get the car registered (would have today, but was unable to).
I'm just trying to figure out if there is anything I could possibly do about the fines. While I admit I should have checked the registration after it was completed to ensure it was approved (that's on me), I was never informed of any issues with my registration either, even though it specifically states on the website that I should have been. I'm currently on my P2 license and this is my first traffic offense. Is there anything I could do or anyone I could contact about this, even to get a bit of leniency with this?
Thanks, any help is greatly appreciated!
EDIT**
I've got the car fully registered and insured again, so now I'm just waiting on those fines. I just wanted to clarify, I'm aware I won't get out of the fines. At the end of the day, the car was unregistered and uninsured - I've accepted that I'll have to pay regardless on the cirumstances. I'm more so wondering if there was anything I could do to potentially help bring the fines down, if you could even do that in this case. If there's not, then there's not, but there was no harm in asking. Thank you for all of those who actually offered helpful advice.
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