Off Topic » Advice needed - speeding fine

I'm looking for some advice on a situation my son has.

He received a notification that a car with his registration plate was clocked speeding some where in Austria/Germany on the 21-Dec-2018 at 03:00, we know categorically it couldn't have been him or his car, he has never driven outside of England let alone the UK.

He received the original notification back in February, and he choose to ignore it as;
1/ he knew 100% it was him or his car,
2/ the letters sent didn't have any option to contest the offence, you could only say it was you driving or someone else driving, or pay the fine by transferring money to a bank account in europe, nothing else,
3/ there was some possibility it was just a scam, some evidence on line to do with the bank details given not matching an official bank account (or so son says), plus he had ordered a part for his car, from a Germany web site, just a few days prior to this alleged infringement, on which he had typed in his car's registration, and that is how the scammers knew of his registration plate.

So he choose to ignore, you could argue this was foolish but it is what he choose.

He has now received a second notification, and he is now paying more attention to it, but hasn't any idea how to go about telling them that it can't have been him or his car. Unfortunately whilst he was at work the day before (Thursday) he wasn't on the Friday, he was on self certified sick, so no-one, bar me, can state he was definitely in the UK, he didn't buy anything (so no date/time on a receipt) and had no contact with officialdom, so no way of proving he wasn't where the alleged offence took place.

It is further complicated as any communication, written or verbal, have to be in German, so a phone call is totally out of the question.

He could pay the 80 Euro fine, it would be cheaper than getting a lawyer/solicitor involved, but if there is someone driving around Germany/Austria with 'copied' registration plates then the problem might come back again, and again and again. In the UK you'd request a copy of any photo taken and see if that revealed anything, like it was a 4 door car and not a 2 door etc. there was not photo on the documents sent.

Anyone have any realistic suggestions on what he could do to clear this up, or at least a way forward?

Jason

might be worth seeing if you can get a free hour advice from a solicitor

Graham

Holegr's advice and kind offer is the best way forward.

There would be a border list for the car leaving the country, either at tunnel or ferry, if push came to shove they would have to prove the car left Britain, this info the border control will have. If it never left the country, there you are.

Is it not the driver of the vehicle that is culpable?
A vehicle can have many drivers but the notice of intended prosecution goes to the registered keeper who is obliged to inform the authorities who was behind the wheel at the time.
If push came to shove, a passport check would show your son never left the country.
Could still be a scam, I would do nothing. It is for them to prove.
Alan

I'm afraid doing nothing is not an option.

There is a legal arrangement between the UK and other EU countries where registered keeper details are exchanged.

The authorities will, generally speaking, use debt collection agencies to secure the fine. They will continue to chase and impose interest/ever larger "admin" fees. In the meantime, the registered keeper will appear on the authorities database.

You should write to the authorities and explain that your son (and car) did not leave the country on the date quoted (I'm sure you will have evidence of this).

Perhaps you should also contact the German Embassy in London for advice.....or the AA/RAC.


....having been on the receiving end of a German speeding ticket (legitimate!) I've been through some of this.......

I got to look at the actual letter Sam (my son) was sent, the picture is the English translation of the Germany language letter that was also sent.

And we may have found the key piece of information we need.

In the letter I think they have stated the location of the offence as "Asten, A1 Str.km 159,8, Wien" (see attatched image)

SamAustriap1.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

I've looked this up on Google and I think it is here

https://tinyurl.com/yy2k6cgo

or at least the A1 road just to the south of the red marker, can anyone confirm this?

If that is the location of the alleged offence we can reasonable show that Sam couldn't have been there at that time, he has independent witnesses (including company director) that he was at work on the Thursday evening until 17:30 GMT.

So even if he left work directly, drove to the channel tunnel, got a on a train immediately, then continued to drive to Asten, he would not be in that vicinity until 05:30 GMT (or 06:30 European time?) i.e. the journey is over 12 hours.

https://tinyurl.com/yxb3dasg

Better still he thinks that Thursday evening may have been his works Christmas party and would therefore have witnesses (including company directors) to state he was still in the UK at 22:00 - he's checking this is today.

He has replied to an email address on the letter, asking how he contests the claim, stating that it can't have been him as he's never left the UK in that car. He hasn't yet told them about the impossibility of the journey, he want his work to confirm they are happy to state he was in the UK at 17:30 or 22:00 (whichever it was)

Jason.

I received a notification of speeding in Germany in November, guilty as charged. The letter was from the official authority written in both English and German and with a very clear photo of me driving. It explained that I had a period of time to contest or explain, I chose not to and after that a letter arrived asking for the fine of 95EUR to be transferred to the IBAN number given. This sounds like your son is being scammed, the letters I received all contained plenty of contact details if I wanted to speak to someone including an email address rechtsamt@landkreis-stade.de

Zitat von nrbully im Beitrag #14

---

I received a notification of speeding in Germany in November, guilty as charged. The letter was from the official authority written in both English and German and with a very clear photo of me driving. It explained that I had a period of time to contest or explain, I chose not to and after that a letter arrived asking for the fine of 95EUR to be transferred to the IBAN number given. This sounds like your son is being scammed, the letters I received all contained plenty of contact details if I wanted to speak to someone including an email address rechtsamt@landkreis-stade.de

---