NSW Speeding Fines with Misspelt Surname - Return to Sender?

[Diegoarmando]

Hi,

I got recently stopped over for speeding. I gave the officer my int. Drivers Licence. He didn't ask for my home address. Now the speeding fines is sent to the registered owner (not me) with a wrongly spelled surname.

Should I send the letter back 'return to sender, doesn't live here'? 'Cause my home address is overseas.

Thanks upfront

 

[sammy01]

Pay the fine...Or risk the registered owner having to deal with a problem you caused... Or don't - you'll probably get away with it but the registered owner won't...

 

[Diegoarmando]

Or enough reason to object within the legal system ?

 

[sammy01]

No chance. None... Mate, if you can afford to travel to this country and get a car, you can afford a fine But the legal technical point that your name was spelled incorrectly ain't gonna stand up in court. No chance. But the ticket does have a court attendance option.

Go on I dare ya. Take it to court, say yep, sure, it was me, but the police office spelled the name wrong...

The registered owner will not be able to get the car re-registered if there is an outstanding fine. So the registered owner will be chasing you up... But I suppose you'll be back in your home country by then? So it won't matter to you right?

Was it a rental car? Likely you won't get your bond back... If it was a nice person that lent you a car you will be leaving them your problem.

 

[Diegoarmando]

No it was a friend's car and if I have to pay the fine, I will pay it. But I found it already strange the cop didn't ask for my residential address. Than they sent the fine to the owner's address with a wrong surname.

In some countries this makes the fine invalid. In court I would say prove it's me. But the owner said "don't worry about". It goes to state debt recovery and they can't contact you. If the police just asked for my contact details they could have but they didn't bother to ask.

So I sure don't want to leave the owner with an problem. It's the first time I heard about problems with re-registering the car so I definitely do not want that to happen. Guess more Aussies are not aware of that, so thanks for bringing that up !

 

[Tim W]

No it was a friends a car and if I have to pay the fine I pay it.

Yes. Do this.

In some countries this makes the fine invalid.

Not the case in Australia.

 

[Diegoarmando]

Okay, thanks for all the help. Maybe I should have mentioned that I bring this friend to and from his work in his car. I got fined picking him up. I asked him to pay half. He said, "No, because you sped."

I said, "Okay I will pay the fine but get to your work yourself then." Then he got the fine with the wrong surname and said to forget about it. So it's not as easy as it seems.

 

[Tim W]

Okay, thanks for all the help. Maybe i should have mentioned i bring this friend to and from his work in his car. I got fined picking him up. I asked him to pay half. he said no because you speeded, I said okay I pay the fine but get to your work yourselfs then. Well than he got the fine with the wrong surname and said forget about it. So its not as easy as it seems

He's right. It's all on you.
On the notice, there is a part on the back where he can say who the driver actually was, if it was not him.

 

[Diegoarmando]

He's right. It's all on you.
On the notice, there is a part on the back where he can say who the driver actually was, if it was not him.

Yeah it's on me, but he still wants me to drive him and I said I wasn't going to do it anymore, costing me money. So now he thinks I can get away with it and still drive him to work. I think I will pay the fine and let him struggle by himself.

 

[Clancy]

To be honest, the system has gotten quite lazy. Police officer cannot be bothered getting correct address or name? Who cares, because of this;

"In some countries this makes the fine invalid".... Not the case in Australia.

Usually your friend should nominate you as the driver... but because you're already 'somewhat' identified I am not sure what is the best thing to do? Recommend your friend call the RTA and ask?