Why is it that every state in Australia has the same rule that if you have lost your license due to traffic fine defaults you can apply to make regular payments and you can have it back.
NSW for eg, if you have say $2000 owing in fines and you had lost your licence due to not having the money to pay these fines straight away, you can make a payment arrangement even if its only $5 per fortnight, so long as you stick to these payment arrangements after the 6th payment they will re-issue you with a licence so long as you stick to the arrangement and continue to make regular payments ( you miss one and you lose the chance and never get the same offer)
ACT how ever, if you have fines outstanding you MUST pay every cent of them before they will even think of giving it back to you. ?????
WHY cant Canberra be the same as the rest of Australia ?
I personally have lost my license for fine default due to my stupid behavior in my early teens, i had been charged for burn outs, speeding etc i had a total of $2500 in fines and paid almost all of it off, i had $5 owing still so naturally asumed that i’d drive to the local shop front, pay my $5 and drive home legit.
How ever, unfortunately i had gotten 5 doors down the road and was pulled over by a police officer that recognised me and pulled me over, i was charged for no licence, disqualifed driver, turned out my car (that i had just brought) had fraud rego, so thats another charge, no rego, no third party and he also defected my car on account of a blinker light that was not working on my front guard.
I explained my story to the officer and stated that it had taken me almost 5 months to pay the last 2500k and tried to reason with him, how ever he doing his job i failed at this attempt.
due to the anger and my rebellous teens i refused to make more payments and drove my self to and from work with out a licence.
Naturally i was pulled over for RBTs etc and i would get another fine for driving unlicenced, Note i have never been stupid enough to drink drive, never been in a car accident, never been in a chase, always co-operated with the law
its now 11 years later and i am up to a shameful $16,000 in fines.
I am not able to get a loan to pay this amount and the only option i have is to make payments when and of what ever amount i can to the ACT shopfront. In doing this i estimate at least 3 years before i can pay it off completely.
I am now 29 and regret the stupid things i had done in the past but its a fact of too little too late.
I am a single father of 4 and finding it extreamly hard to manage with out being able to have access to a car.
Oh and i am unable to get a work license UNLESS i have been charged for driving under the influence … why do drink drivers get the chance to get their right to drive back but that dosen’t stand for the rest of us?
What other options are there ? Who can i talk to? there has to be another way to get this sorted out?
I know alot of readers out there are saying “its your own fault, you should have paid your fines, you shouldn’t have done the wrong thing” i agree, i was young and naive and no had no one to tell me otherwise.
I accept responsibilty for the things i have done wrong, i am willing to pay these fines, but why cant i have a payment arrangement just like every other state in Australia?
Does the Government not realise how many people would come forward and happily pay off there fines if there was a payment scheme in ACT like this ??
Remember, i personally owe $16000.00 imagine if every unlicenced person in ACT went on this plan, no longer would there be so many unlicence drivers on the road but it would put a hell of a lot more money back into the ACT Government.
Signed
Confused and Frustrated,