sdorling

Hey guys,

Received a mail in the post this morning, thought it was going to be a refund of my super fund after spending a few months in Oz on a WHV but... it was a present from the Victoria Police Department telling me i'd been caught speeding (128km/h in a 100km/h) - Fair do's, will pay the fine online which incidently is almost the same value as the funds held in my temporary super account.

The letter also detailed that I will be getting 4 penalty points and a months ban - Clearly this is for Australian-registere drivers. The fine, no problems, but as I was driving on my UK driving licence are they able to transfer the equivalent ban and/or points somehow?

Anyone else experienced a similar issue?

Globaliser

I did, several years back. For a number of legal and practical reasons, I formed the view that I was better off ignoring the correspondence unless and until I was stopped and questioned about my speeding ticket when entering Australia. That hasn't happened so far.

simong

I woudnt suggest this approach, if you plan on returning to Aus at somepoint in the future pay the fine. You wont have to have the points or anyyhing on your foreign licence but you are liable for the money, eventully it could turn into a debt on your record, state and federal do share this info and while its still unlikely it could affect your ability to enter the country, so its easier to pay up.

stewardo

I'm fairly sure that there isn't an agreement between the two countries for sharing information about points/suspensions -- after all, other EU countries still haven't managed it, and it would be a bugger to administer. We all know how efficient the DVLA (British DMV) is.

One fly in the ointment might be the increased use of debt 'management' companies to pursue these types of fines - a colleague of mine was being chased multiple times a day by an apparently rather unpleasant company based in the north of England over a parking ticket issued by a local authority in New Zealand - so it is possible they will track you down. And then of course you'll have that nagging fear on entry each time (or even before entry - Australia can refuse to let you fly when checking-in) that it might be flagged up on some data base somewhere.

My usual ruse is to feign confusion "60 miles? I thought it was kilometres? Oh no!" which sometimes will avoid getting a ticket from an officer. Of course, doesn't work with the cameras.

riced

I can say from experience that non-payment of any traffic citations on a foreign license will not be pursued. Nor will the customs/immigration agents have any access to this information. Now if you plan to register a car downunder (in the state you were ticketed in), then you may as well pay up. Immigration computers are only linked to more serious offences and also to Centrelink (for fraud purposes but in reverse. ie Centrelink gets your travel info from Immigration).

Globaliser

I should make clear that I don't advocate this for anyone else.

But as I said, my troubles haven't caught up with me yet. And that's having done a dozen or more entries to Australia in the interim. In any case, there is no evidence that I have ever received any correspondence about it.

SST

I had the identical experience and decided just to pay the ticket. I was able to pay the US$67 I owed via internet by credit card. Decided that since I'd be back to Oz several times, I didn't want some smartass programmer at Avis to enable some interface with the court system and give me an ugly surprise upon arrival when they tell me they won't rent, or want to charge me some $300 bail or something.

I *was* speeding, but not by much, regularly. The speed cameras are apparently pretty good. I guess here in CA, maybe 7-9 mph over the speed limit wouldn't be considered a real ticket risk as long as you slow down when spotted, but they've got a real moneymaker here with the automated extortion racket.... In any case, this little "souvenir" left a bad taste in my mouth; but I paid rather than "ignore Victoria".

bensyd

I would ignore the fine the chances of anything happening to you when trying to re-enter Australia are slim to non existant.

There is a case in NSW at the moment with a former Supreme court judge Einfeld who got a speeding fine and said that it was a professor from Florida driving his car at the time, who lived in Florida, only problem was the professor had been dead for 2 years and the media got hold of this. Basically you can nominate an overseas resident driver as the driver at the time and the State Government has very little they can actually do beside sending them a letter requesting the money. Its all just revenue raising anyway don't pay the fine....I think you can still sleep safe at night

TierFlyer

You know, I'm feeling a bit less like an ugly American - I always pay my foreign traffic fines (even the one for the Avis car I "lost" in Amsterdam. Ahem.) because I feel like it'd be rude not to.

I'm not talking some extortinate crap, just the normal "right turn on red not enabled" kind of thing.

jtkauai

Vic. camera tickets are obviously an incredible business. Very accurate, and mailed out by the bushel. I haven't seen any stats on just how many are issued, but it must be huge. We won't be speeding (even a little) next time in Vic. We were able to have the last ticket dismissed, but won't try our luck.

hobarthoney

I would not pay and if it was ever raised when you interred Australia again (which I very much doubt) just act dumb and say you never received the infringement notice.

bensyd

I have quite a bit outstanding in Autostrade tolls I had no money and around $60 in tolls got to the gate was issued with a bill to pay...never paid it never heard anything again from them not even a letter requesting payment.

RichardInSF

I got hit with a Vic camera fine for going 3km/hr over the limit in the tunnel under Melbourne which, to add insult to injury, is also a toll road.

3km/hr, got to have been purely for safety reasons, right?

Maca44

Australia has an agreement between each State concerning driver's licences and motor vehicle registration (vehicle license) so if a person with a New South Wales driver's licence receives a ticket for exceeding the speed limit or some other offence, and doesn't pay the fine, the Traffic Infringement Office from the respective State where the licence is issued posts a notice to the driver at his nominated address that the fine is unpaid and to pay up.

If the fine remains unpaid for some time (and I think it is between 3 and 6 months) they send out a final warning. If that final warning is ignored they can then cancel the person's driver's licence without any court hearing etc. Then, if that person is subsequently pulled over by a Police Officer at some later stage and a check is carried out on his licence it will come up as being "suspended" so apart from the offence for which he is pulled over he also receives a ticket for driving with a suspended licence.

On the other hand, if a motor vehicle is detected going through a speed camera a letter is sent to the registered address of the owner, and if the same letter as mentioned above are ignored after a certain period of time the registration (vehicle licence) is cancelled. If a person is detected at some later stage driving that vehicle and a check is carried out the driver is booked for driving an unregistered vehicle. The main problem with this scenario is that if the person driving what is deemed an unregistered motor vehicle is involved in an serious motor vehicle accident, and a person dies, then the driver can be charged with manslaughter in lieu of dangerous driving causing death simply because the vehicle was unregistered.

However, back to the original question... there is no reciprocal agreement with countries outside Australia as it has to be an Australian licence to be suspended or to receive demerit points. If a person from the UK was issued with a ticket for speeding (such as the OP), then the Police have the option of issuing a warrant for the unpaid traffic fine but I have never know of this to occur. Even if such did happen it would only be a matter of the Police executing the warrant and the person concerned paying the fine at the Police Station.

sando233

Hope this gets to you - just joined this website and not too sure how it works! Anyway, here goes.

Am on holiday in Victoria, Australia from the UK and got pulled over by police for speeding [84 less 2 ie 82 in 60kph zone = $234 fine! ugh]. I noticed your previous post on this website [but dated in 2006] and was wondering if your advice still applies? Think I might return to Melbourne sometime as I've had a great holiday but concerned about being refused entry in the future. Any advice much appreciated.