Fines...ability to pay!
 

Is it true that now the government are going to introduce means tested fines for road traffic offences?

I heard that the level of fines are going to be given according to the ability to pay.
So the person that has a job, and a car and bike gets a whopping fine and the little scally that does a TWOCer and is on benefit gets a a £2 fine and a slap on the wrist!...
Has anyone else heard this??? How long before they bring it in?...Has it gone before parliament yet?:mad:

I my experience mate, the fine system is a joke anyway. The amount of money that is written off because of the inability or reluctance to pay. If you dont pay it for long enough its written off!
I have seen people arrested for non payment of fines, one in particular owing £1400, when arrested he had £2000 on him. This cannot be taken!!! He chose to go up to court and got bail!!!!!! and his property back.

They chose the prison optionas, for eg, if you get 14 days, that means straight away half...7 days. If it falls that 6,7 day are near a weekend they get out on the friday so thats only 5!!!!!

happy days.

?
Not seen this, where you seen this load of tosh?

AndyB?
Rushjob?
Any input.

if it does come in they can **** right off i am getting so ****ed off with this country and how the shaft good honest people who will pay up because they have more to loose than a smack head.

Ok
Posted at same time.

I thought there was a new law regarding unpaid fines been touted round parliament?


KB
Why the question?
YOu not picked up a dreaded 3 points have you?

My only comment

CSA!!!

Yeah Festa but what can we do, I aint moving abroad, too many foreigners about out there. ;)

No...was on BBC news 24!:(

This isn't for the ability to pay an unpaid fine....this is means testing the actual fine.

[Edited on 15-1-2005 by kwikbitch]

What you watching the news channel for its saturday?
Thought you would have been to Tesco's taking advantage of the special on Australian wine again?

Hope it dont turn out that way though.
I spend all my hard earned on my bikes and car etc instead of buying a quick fix from a dodgy dealer on a saturday night and i gety fined heavier for having a hobby and not burgling some poor gets house!

Stinks, not half!

Why is it a problem? if you dont break the law then its not an issue.

If you are on income support what the point of a £2000 fine with no chance of it being repayed? Must be better to make it £100 then have some chance of getting it off the offender.

I think you'll find that the level of fine has always been based on the offenders ability to pay anyhow.

Stinks...I can think of stronger than that!

We are just seen as a source of revenue...:mad:

You never get the chance of getting it off the true offender Rock!...
The problem is it IS the upstanding citizen that will always pay the fine because they know that they went a couple of miles over the speed limit. It's the f**** that drive over the speed humps outside my house, in front of a school at 60 mph in a nicked car, smoking a spliff that wont pay their fines!
That's why it pees so many people off!
Yes I had 6 points...Once. I paid my fine.
I had a 6 month old in the car on both occasions...keeping up with the flow of traffic. I just happened to be at the back of the queue!:mad:

Try getting the sack, having a bad criminal record and taking drugs for a while then you will get the lowest fine ever and probably be offered all expenses paid counselling for being naughty.

Might take up a post in the red light district whilst i'm at it!...

Well....got to get the drug money from somewhere:P

:lol:
nice wheels
:lol:

?????? sorry yella, I've had too nmuch gin...dunt ger it???:puzzled:

You will!

If this is a remark about my choice of Car colour...then S0d off!
I couldn't get a black one!
AND...it's REALLY slow:devil:

Nope,
You dont listen to Chris Moyles in the radio 1 breakfast slot then?

Bellas Roddas

KB

I know this is operation at the moment as one of the chaps from work was done and he had to produce his P60 etc so that he could be means tested.

Why can`t there be a standard scale of fines etc through out the country so that if you get done for, say, a speading offence there is a standard fee to pay irrespective if the "Richard Cranium" magistrates had some nooky that morning and is in a good or bad mood!.

I was done many years ago for a speeding offence, with a mate on his bike, and I pleaded guilty and went to court and he pleaded guilty by post. Now remember this was tghe same offence, same time same place same copper etc. Because he did not go to court he was fined 3 times what I was and the nasty thing about it was We could actually prove that the Officer was lying with respect to his speed acusation and the so called distence he allegidly followed us.

The law is an ass at times. Don`t forget you get a lesser fine for rapem murder or granny bashing , see alst weeks MCN.

Have a nice day.

Lisa, I heard this on the news too and, like you, was annoyed because it's always the fine upstanding tax paying, slightly too fast driving public that end up paying, and the scumbags who don't tax or insure their cars and take no notice of speeding restrictions at any stage of their driving that don't pay.

I suppose it's a deterrent to those of us who might occasionally edge over the speed limit on our bikes if we know there's a possible open ended fine for doing that. Fortunately, my ability to pay at the moment is seriously limited so I'm not too fussed :lol::lol:

The only answer is to stop road riding or take the punishment if you get caught. You have to weigh up the risk and reward, I suppose. :puzzled:

i am with KB on this - really rubbish - and is discriminating against those that WILL pay fines, rather than CAN afford to, probably some human rights issue in here if you dig hard enough.
The other crazy one is that the law actually protects those that break and enter your property with the specific intention of a)robbery, b)rape,c) GBH,d) murder e) kidnap....or all/some of the above - surely it should be as soon as you commit a crime(crossing my threshold - carrying off my 748etcetc) then you are at the mercy of whatever happens next.???

And they all manage to be able to afford fags and drink rather than pay their fines!

oh, and free legal aid to defend them!

Now by inclination I'm a sort of 'live and let live' type of bloke. Politically, I suppose I'm just a bit left of centre because I don't see myself as part of the hang 'em and flog 'em little englander brigade that inhabit planet Daily Mail.

As well as that, Thatcher's government policies (with Lawson as chancellor) nearly made me bankrupt as the banks suddenly got cold feet with all the 80's entreprenurial spirit, pulling the plug on small businesses and with their poll tax and 15+% interest rates, increased my monthly outgoings by £300 when I was only just scraping by as it was (going to my employer and saying government policies have increased my monthly bills so I need an extra £500 before tax wasn't an option). I found myself deep in debt and like millions of others, deep in negative equity. So I can never, ever forgive the Tories (and Michael Howard was one of Thatchers government).

Having said all that, as I listen to the news there is hardly a day goes by without another announcement from the Home Office with yet more curbs on civil liberty. As Kwikbitch says, these are not laws designed to deter the real scum, they are and ever increasing set of draconian and petty laws that simply target people who are usually 100% law abiding. Blunkett was the most apalling authoritarian Home Secretary that I can ever remember and Clarke is just following in his footsteps.

Is it any wonder that people feel disenfranchised when the only political parties that they have to represent them are a bunch of old Colonel Blimp has beens (I think the average Conservative Club member is 60 and their MP's are pretty close behind), or the arrogance of Blair.

Rant over :flame:

also saw this piece. Just another excuse to batter the ones who have most to lose, but also contribute most to the country's coffers with all the tax they pay, so others 'less fortunate' can have some fom of life....but if you think about it, fine someone without a job/income and who is paying the fine anyway???

UP THE REVOLUTION!!!:mad:

[Edited on 16-1-2005 by bradders]

I'm with joolz...
I have responsibility for the special needs kids in the school and with the second job, responsibility for training the teachers to cope with the difficulties they have.
Take for instance the autistic children with severe behavioural difficulties... they have a mental illness that needs supporting within the classroom environment. My job is to write bids to ensure that these children recieve the correct funding.
I become disaffected when I have to write a bid for little johnny who's parents are on income support, swearing endlessly at him at the classroom door, clipping him round the ear whilst smoking a Fag and calling him a little F**k, allowing him to terrorize the children in school...Then they claim disability living allowance because they reckon he has ADHD...when all the time you know and they know that their appalling parenting and the lack of boundaries are the problem and he is just a little 5hit!
AND knowing that The bid you are writing will take money away from those children that REALLY need the social, emotional and academic support to succeed in education.
Sometimes I really have to shake my head at this government....:(:puzzled:

I don't think the principle is a bad one. Would you all be in favour of fat cat "businessmen" who park their Mercs on double yellows repeatedly because it's cheaper than paying for parking, and anyway it's just small change to them? To be any kind of deterrent at all, the punishment has to make some attempt to reflect the abililty to pay.

We can all complain about loutish kids and their bad parents, but what do we want: medals for being better than them? For all his faults (and I'm no fan) Tony Blair didn't generate these lawless people, and they've always been around, under governments of all political persuasions. And I'm not sure what that's got to do with the topic in hand, anyway.

And let's be fair, you've only got to read some of the threads around here about speeding to see that we all (well, most of us:saint: ) can be pretty selective about laws we obey.

[Edited on 16-1-2005 by moto748]

my £0.02's worth:
where will the line be drawn:- if people accept being means tested for the ability to be able to pay the fine, then why not means test them for other payable items? How much would you pay for your precious Ducati if you knew that the toe-rag-benefit-robbing-joy-riding-oxygen-thief-scum paid half the price you paid?
but then again, a £400 fine for a £100,000 a week footballer seems pretty inconsequential.
Why not abolish the fine system and rely completely on voluntary hours commitment?
<rant off>

I'm not a good person to post under this heading today since some thieving scrote screwdrivered my car doorlock on Friday night and stole-a £15 fleece..............
Mind you since he/she broke the lock I will have to get the car to the bodyshop and it will probably have to have all 3 locks replaced, new keys, and a new doorhandle-which will come to several £100-I am begining to see the sense in Koranic law-cut the *******s hands off.............:flame:

John