ferrousland.com - diary archives
Thursday, March 04, 2004
my license is back - 07:34 AM
my speeding fine adventures from a couple of months ago have finally come to a closure.
this is how it works. on the day i was given the fine, my license was automatically suspended, but not officially until the fine ($700!) was paid, or at least the first installment of the fine was paid. once they received that money, a notice arrived in the mail giving me the date from which my suspension would begin. within twenty-one days from that date, i was allowed to lodge an appeal against the suspension. i did that & was given a date for the hearing. from that lodgement date my license was reinstated until the day of the hearing, so i was allowed to drive again.
the hearing was at the magistrate's court yesterday. shroom's dad, rudi, was very kind to drive me all the way there (another twenty minutes or so further away from our place, totally out of his way to anyway) & sit with me while we waited for my name to be called. the time was set for 10am, but when we arrived at about 9:30 (to make sure we got there in plenty of time) there was already a largish crowd of people waiting outside.
my name wasn't called until 11:30. not exactly a riveting activity for rudi, sitting waiting for an hour & a half, but we passed the time simply chatting about this & that. fortunately it wasn't as hot as it has been recently (over 40 degrees cenitgrade, about 104 fahrenheit). it was actually quite pleasant sitting in the shade on the grass, then later on some undercover benches when the shade moved. as soon as my name was called by a young policeman, i jumped up & followed him into the waiting room outside the actual court room. i wasn't sure what to do from there, because the cop had gone outside again without another word to me. one of the clerks saw me looking a bit lost, so he opened the door quickly, looked inside & then indicated that i could go in.
a lady, who i assume was a bailliff/court secretary, showed me where to sit as the judge asked me if i had any documents to support my claim. i handed the bailliff a spreadshhet showing shroom's monthly income & our usual expenses, the totals of which almost matched, despite food as an expense missing from the equation. i also gave a copy of the letter welcoming me as an enjo consultant to show my means of earning an income, as well as an affidavit with my name on it & an explanation of why i thought the judge should let me have my license back, most of which was about us suffering financial hardship if i wasn't allowed to drive.
he asked me about the circumstances surrounding my driving that fast. he also brought up the three speeding camera fines which i'd received not long before the big one. he noted how previous to october last year my driving record had been pretty good. i pointed out that the reason for my lack of attention to the speed limit was that my son was born in september & i was suffering from lack of sleep.
the judge was a bit gruff about the whole issue, but after five minutes or so of discussion which included him comnfirming where we live (which doesn't have any public transport), he said to me, "it's against my better judgement, but i'm going to grant this one." to say that i was relieved is a gross understatement. i said "thank you" & "i appreciate it" a couple of times to him before he said that i was to make my way to the office on the other side of the building to collect the relevant paperwork.
when i came out, rudi was still sitting where i'd left him. as soon as he saw me he stood up & asked me how i went. i told him the good news as we walked to the other office. we only had to wait another few minutes until the same clerk who'd let me know i could go into the court room brought out two copies of the paper saying that i now had my license back. we took the papers over to the department of transport where they had me fill out a form to reapply for my license. i didn't have to get an actual new license, i kept my old one & as soon as they had the form signed by me & entered into the computer, it was all good.
on the way out of the court, in the court's offices, on the way to the department of transport, on the way back to the car & on the way back home, i gave quite a number of really huge sighs. i knew that i was feeling some stress about the situation (including several dreams in which i'd been pulled over by the cops & i was literally on my hands & knees begging them to not fine me) but i hadn't realised how much stress until it was all over. a few times i even felt like crying.
i am so glad that it's all sorted out now & that i'm allowed to drive. i'm still on a year's good behaviour, with only one demerit point allowed because of the three camera speeding fines, but at least i'm allowed on the roads.
*phew!*
your a verry lucky lady
check your speed extra carefull 
I'm glad you were able to get your license back. Be careful on those roads, your son's life depends on it. Don't make me fly over there and smack you!
Onya Kiddo, glad to hear that you've got it back.
*hugs*
glad that's all sorted out... now go find a brick, and stick it UNDER your accelerator!
i'm happy its all worked out in your favor. goods lessons are hard earned. be careful real girl or i'll be on the plane with DJ.
Hi there a similar situation happened to me last night. What advice do you have as I need to appeal this as without my license I will loose my job and fail University. If you could email me that would be greatly appreciated.
ferrous
gmail
com
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woohoo - well done - im glad you got it back :o) will have to watch out for you driving around here!!