Just got back from a holiday in Oz and 2 speeding tickets have now arrived from Queensland police. One from a mobile camera and the other from a Gatso. Neither picture they have sent shows who is driving and there were 2 authorised drivers in the hire car.
How do I stand if I ignore these? I don't intend to visit Oz again but I don't know what action they may take in UK if I don't pay.
Postman Pat
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Did you get them from the police or from the car hire company? This makes a lot of difference - the car hire place probably has your credit card details and a signed contract saying you will pay fines.
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Both tickets arrived in separate envelopes direct from Queensland Police but they must have obtained my address from car hire firm , who, as you say ,also have my credit card details. Does this mean if I ignore their request to pay police will simply compel car hire company to give my card details?
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If you want to avoid this, close the credit card accounts now and ignore it. I can't believe they'll get Interpol involved. Or on the other hand, pay up and sleep easy.
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The trouble is that it is so easy to sell the debt to one of those debt collecting agencies who employ big apes and add £25 to the bill each time they call to collect and fail.
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From Australia? These are civil offences, there will surely be no juristriction here.
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Well I guess you were happy enough to be a guest in their country, you broke their laws but you don't want to pay the fines and feel you can get away with it.
I doubt whether there's much they can do and I trust you are happy that foreigners in this country can similarly evade our laws. I suspect that your view is that of the majority so just forget about it
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I got caught for speeding by a camera in UK. Back in Australia I got the papers which the hire car people sent on to me. They charged a $30 administrative fee for their service to my credit card. I wrote a sob story back to the police and heard nothing more from then. Perhaps they thought the hire car administrative fee was sufficient punishment. I would sit back and see what happens.
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Pay the fines - you had the holiday and that is the end of it. What is the total £100?
Failing that a letter could drop through the door from goodness knows where demanding the fines, admin charges, late payment fees, debt collector fees..................
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They can demand what they like, they surely have no right in law to get the money from you.
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Hi,
I can help with this...
I got stopped near Perth when I was doing about 150 in a 110 (kmh). I handed over my licence for them to take my details and gave my address but the copper said to me if you aren't planning on coming back to Aus then dont bother paying it.
I waited for a court order but didnt recieve one for a while (about 4 weeks) and by the time it dropped on my door mat it had gone up by $50 with court fees to $300!
I paid the fine by credit card (as I go to Aus a fair bit) but it didnt get wiped off the system so I kept receiving letters asking me to go to court and eventually they sent me a letter saying that I cannot drive in Australia, I was banned and if I did then I would go to jail!
I eventually managed to sort it out and proved I paid (credit card receipt) so my conviction had been quashed. However, if you are not going to visit again you will be ok. Just ignore the letters.....
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By the way, I dont think the car hire firm will be interested...they have given your details to the police and I don't think they will give two hoots if you pay or not. It must happen to them on a daily occurence.
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