Speeding Fine, but not guilty of it. Court costs?

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by stiddy

I have been to court to fight a speeding fine in NSW.. got hit up for 96km/h in a 60zone .. when it was an 80 zone.. so i took it to court.. i admitted to being 16km/h over but not 36km/h..
I had a lawyer with me when i went in.. the case ended being dropped due to the police wrongly booking me.. (36 over instead of 16 over)
Court fee was a $160 and the lawyer fee was $1750, its alot of money but i didnt loose any points and kept my licence.. it also took about a 10months before i made it into court.

See, now I'd be fighting that too.

If you take notice of where you are, what the speed zone is, what speed you were doing, and it's a totally different thing on your ticket, then by all means challenge it.

IMO, it's not worth doing it "because you can", so to speak.

[RED_EL_XR8]

Originally Posted by Heeno

care to explain

No! Common sense isn't that hard to figure out. Even if its far from common in to find it.

[big_waity]

I am a big fan of fighting fines received unduely(sp). I received a fine for running a stop sign once, I stopped, but, not close enough to the line apparently. I decided to cop it just cause I had plenty of points and couldn't give a stuff. A couple of months prior, I had an accidentle chirp of the tyres(front wheel drive with skinny crappy tyres) and got a fine for doing burnouts, I copped it because I had plenty of points and didn't care about the fine. 12 months later, when I went to insure a car and they said no, I started to care about the fines that I should have argued earlier. Go for gold I say. Stick it to the man!

[EDManual]

Thanks for your thoughts guys!
I have a friend who is a Police Prosecuter for criminal cases (not really this sort of thing), but she says I should have a go, and she will help me as much as she can, and knows others who can help who would know more. And shouldnt cost me much at all, I dont have to pay for any police appearences as it is their case to prove.

Do criminals have to pay the police prosecuter, or expert witnesses called by the police who prosecutes them on behalf of the government? No.

Everyone should have a go fighting if they have half a chance. Also to me could be a bit of fun :-) in some way!

[SB076]

Originally Posted by stiddy

I have been to court to fight a speeding fine in NSW.. got hit up for 96km/h in a 60zone .. when it was an 80 zone.. so i took it to court.. i admitted to being 16km/h over but not 36km/h..
I had a lawyer with me when i went in.. the case ended being dropped due to the police wrongly booking me.. (36 over instead of 16 over)
Court fee was a $160 and the lawyer fee was $1750, its alot of money but i didnt loose any points and kept my licence.. it also took about a 10months before i made it into court.

Because the case was dropped aren't you entitled to claim back the costs of the court and also your lawyer?

Originally Posted by SB076

Because the case was dropped aren't you entitled to claim back the costs of the court and also your lawyer?

If the case gets dropped it is often a case of the prosecutor getting out before he ends up getting hit with costs. In NSW the prosecutors don't care because the legislation is so robust you pretty much will never get costs out of them even if you win. One good point about Victoria is the prosecutor needs to weigh the options before committing to the risk - I think it's a good idea because it provides a sense of balance about whether it's worth pursuing someone for an offence. In NSW they will pursue a speeding offence 99.999999% of the time regardless because they know legislation and outcomes will always be on their side. Even if they lose you always end up losing more.