Court costs for fighting traffic tickets

**Oliver12345** · 23rd April 2015, 00:27

After reading some threads about fighting tickets, I was wanting to know from people that have fought tickets and lost, what the court costs were and what was the original fine

Might help people decide if they are willing to risk the court costs

**Gremlin** · 23rd April 2015, 01:06

Originally Posted by Oliver12345

After reading some threads about fighting tickets, I was wanting to know from people that have fought tickets and lost, what the court costs were and what was the original fine

Might help people decide if they are willing to risk the court costs

Court costs are fixed per infringement, not a percent of the fine etc. I think court costs are currently $130. You win, no cost. You lose, you pay infringement plus court costs.

**haydes55** · 23rd April 2015, 06:18

$130 isn't too bad, even on top of the ticket. Worth a gamble that the cop mightn't turn up and no demerits?

**Mo NZ** · 23rd April 2015, 08:34

Used to be no demerits for a court appearance.
Say you said you would defend the matter.
- Cop doesn't show = no evidence put up and the matter is withdrawn.

- turn up and say you have changed your mind and now wish to plea guilty.
You got a fine + cc, but no demerits were accrued.

Not sure it they have they have fixed it in recent times.

**R650R** · 23rd April 2015, 09:18

I paid 40 cents for a stamp to contest a wrong registration number recorded on an ION.
They wrote back saying they had changed it and deleted all record of the error (altering evidence), and it wasn't worth going further with that now....

**Oliver12345** · 23rd April 2015, 15:54

OH so the one fixed charge regardless of amount. Could the original punishment become harsher. i.e. instead of losing license for what would have been 1 month, the judge extends it to 6 months if the charge allowed it?

**Gremlin** · 23rd April 2015, 15:58

Originally Posted by Oliver12345

OH so the one fixed charge regardless of amount. Could the original punishment become harsher. i.e. instead of losing license for what would have been 1 month, the judge extends it to 6 months if the charge allowed it?

Open ended question, the reasons for going to court are long (almost endless) for a number of reasons, categories etc. Traffic infringements are more straightforward, but large speeding fines (ie, high enough to earn disqualifications) are set by the Judge/JP when you're in court, and in this scenario, it's entirely up to the JP/Judge what you get. Also bear in mind that there are other fees for other things, like applying for a limited licence is around $400, no guarantee of success etc.

Originally Posted by haydes55

$130 isn't too bad, even on top of the ticket. Worth a gamble that the cop mightn't turn up and no demerits?

Depends on the original ticket. You're free to contest a 55 in a 50 for example, but it's a $30 ticket. Contesting and losing gets you $160... perhaps not the smartest move, and it had no demerits to begin with.

**rastuscat** · 25th April 2015, 17:38

Originally Posted by Gremlin

Open ended question, the reasons for going to court are long (almost endless) for a number of reasons, categories etc. Traffic infringements are more straightforward, but large speeding fines (ie, high enough to earn disqualifications) are set by the Judge/JP when you're in court, and in this scenario, it's entirely up to the JP/Judge what you get. Also bear in mind that there are other fees for other things, like applying for a limited licence is around $400, no guarantee of success etc.

Depends on the original ticket. You're free to contest a 55 in a 50 for example, but it's a $30 ticket. Contesting and losing gets you $160... perhaps not the smartest move, and it had no demerits to begin with.

10 demerits for that infringement.

**Gremlin** · 26th April 2015, 01:15

Originally Posted by rastuscat

10 demerits for that infringement.

Sorry, was implying a van camera or such like... Should have mentioned...

**Mo NZ** · 26th April 2015, 06:14

So do you get demerits when you make a court appearance.
re post #4
I know in the past you did not.

**rastuscat** · 28th April 2015, 11:13

Originally Posted by Mo NZ

So do you get demerits when you make a court appearance.
re post #4
I know in the past you did not.

The way you get convicted makes no difference to the demerit system. If you pay the fine you get the demerits, if you go to court and get convicted you get the demerits. If you do nothing, you get convicted, you get the points and you get a bunch of processing costs as well.

The only difference is in how you got caught. Speed camera offences currently carry nil demerits, but officer-issued speeding tickets do.

**Mo NZ** · 28th April 2015, 11:26

Cheers.
..

**unstuck** · 28th April 2015, 11:43

No such thing as court cost's these days. It is now an offenders levy fee, and is $50 as soon as you step in the dock, regardless of the outcome. The longer your particular case the higher the fee.

**Erelyes** · 28th April 2015, 15:04

Originally Posted by R650R

I paid 40 cents for a stamp to contest a wrong registration number recorded on an ION.
They wrote back saying they had changed it and deleted all record of the error (altering evidence), and it wasn't worth going further with that now....

Fuckin' ages ago I got a ticket where they put down the licence issue date, as my date of birth, on the ticket.

I never bothered to contest it but I now wonder what they would have done with it...

**unstuck** · 28th April 2015, 15:10

Originally Posted by Erelyes

Fuckin' ages ago I got a ticket where they put down the licence issue date, as my date of birth, on the ticket.

I never bothered to contest it but I now wonder what they would have done with it...

Nothing, they put the wrong rego plate number on my last ticket, but had correct drivers license number, so there was fuck all I could do apparently.