A Canberra motorist says he was shocked to receive two traffic infringement notices allegedly linked to speeding incidents from 19 years ago.
Robert Scott, 42, was allegedly caught speeding on Hindmarsh Drive on April 22 and May 25, 2007. However, he says he only recently became aware of the alleged offences.
Mr Scott plans to challenge the notices, each of which carries a $167 fine.
‘I’ve been sent two tickets from approximately 19 years ago. The same intersection, almost a month apart,’ he said.
‘Not sure I even owned a car with that rego, it was that long ago.’
He said he could not explain why the fines had apparently not reached him when they were first issued.
‘I’ve got no idea how it happened because if I haven’t paid a fine for the last 20 years, I would have a suspended licence,’ he said.
‘I don’t understand how there haven’t been updates since, and I don’t understand how I’m now receiving a reminder nearly 20 years later.’
Canberra driver Robert Scott says he was stunned after receiving two speeding fines allegedly dating back 19 years.
Mr Scott said Access Canberra had told him the original infringement notices would have been sent in 2007, though he has no recollection of receiving them at the time.
‘I was in my 20s and was in between living at my girlfriend’s place and my parents’ place, so I’ve got no recollection of the fines from 20 years ago,’ he said.
‘Since 2007, I have registered several cars many times and at no point was I flagged for demerit points or told that there were any outstanding fines.
‘The only time I’ve even been pulled up by police in that time was earlier this year.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong; it was just being pulled over for a check, but they didn’t flag anything then either.’
Fourtree Lawyers director Hayder Shkara said he would advise people in Mr Scott’s position to challenge the fines because it was unreasonable to expect motorists to recall events from almost 20 years ago.
‘I wouldn’t just pay it without first obtaining the history of the fines,’ Mr Shkara told Yahoo News.
‘Think about what someone is being asked to do here. They are effectively being asked in 2026 to reconstruct what happened on a particular day in 2007.
Robert Scott, 42, was allegedly detected speeding on Hindmarsh Drive on April 22 and May 25, 2007, but says he was not made aware of the offences until recently
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‘Where were they? Who was driving? Did they own the car? Was it sold? Were there other people who had access to it? Did they receive the original notice? What records existed at the time?’
Given the decades-long delay, Mr Shkara said it was important to question what happened to the fines at the time.
‘If a valid infringement notice was issued back in 2007, became payable and has simply remained outstanding, the ACT Government may be entitled to continue enforcing that existing liability,’ he said.
‘That is different from commencing a fresh prosecution for an alleged speeding offence nearly 20 years later.
‘The first question I would ask is: what exactly happened to these fines in 2007? Were they properly issued and served, did they become enforceable, and what enforcement steps occurred after that?’
He also said that the reason for the delay would play a huge part in the appeal process as well.
‘A 19-year delay does not necessarily mean that a fine automatically disappears,’ he said.
‘But where the matter resurfaced was because duplicate customer profiles were only now merged, that raises an obvious question: why should the citizen bear the consequences of an administrative problem within the government’s own system?’
Mr Scott, who intends to appeal the fines, said both infringement notices came with a $167 penalty
The comments were in response to Access Canberra’s explanation that old infringement notices can be reissued when duplicate customer accounts are merged.
‘When a customer updates their address, or renews their driver’s licence with Access Canberra, the vehicle registration system can automatically re-issue any pending notices or correspondence for that individual,’ an ACT government spokesman said.
‘When two customer accounts are merged, the system can again be prompted to re-issue any pending notices or correspondence.’
When Access Canberra merges duplicate records belonging to the same customer, staff review and discuss any outstanding notices or unresolved issues.
However, the agency admitted that updating details on a historic account can occasionally cause old notices to resurface.
‘Even when these discussions occur, the merging of a historic account with a current profile updates contact information, which, in certain circumstances, prompts the system to reissue correspondence,’ it said.
‘Generally, there are processes in place to catch this type of reissuing of correspondence before it occurs.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Access Canberra for comment.