FINES: YOUR RIGHTS AND WHAT YOU MUST DO

If you want to know more or need help, please contact the Fines Collection section of a District Court. The staff there will be happy to help you.

1. Payment of fines and more time to pay

You must pay the total amount by the due date shown on your Notice of Fine. If you want more time to pay, you must apply at any District Court within 28 days of the day you were fined. The 28 days ends on the last day for payment (the due date) shown on the notice. If you are granted more time to pay and you miss a payment, you will face enforcement action and another fee may be added to your fine.

2. What will happen if you do not pay?

If you do not pay within 28 days of being fined and you have not been allowed more time to pay by a Court, an enforcement fee of $100 will be added to your fine. The Court will take enforcement action, which may include:

• Seizing (taking) something you own (e.g. car, T.V, furniture) and selling it
• Putting a wheel clamp on your car so it cannot move
• Requiring your employer or the Ministry of Social Development to take the money owed from your wages or benefit
• Issuing a warrant for your arrest to the Police

You may be brought before a Judge who may impose a sentence of community work or, in some cases, imprisonment.

THE COURT CAN TAKE OTHER ACTION NOT LISTED HERE TO COLLECT A FINE

3. Can I apply for an appeal, hearing or rehearing?

You may appeal against your conviction or sentence or any order made against you. If you want to appeal, you must file an application explaining why you don’t agree with the decision against you. You must file this application in the Court where the decision was made within 28 days of the day you were sentenced. Ask for a form at any Court.

You can ask for a hearing or a rehearing if the procedures for fining you or notifying you of the fine were not properly followed. You can apply to a District Court Judge to review any order or decision made by a Registrar relating to enforcement of a fine.

4. Disqualification and surrender of licence

If the Court has disqualified you from holding or getting a driver’s licence you must give up your licence immediately. You may:

1 post it to the Land Transport Safety Authority, PO Box 14-349, Wellington OR

2 hand it in at any Land Transport Safety Authority or Court office OR

3 give it to any member of the Police.

Issued by the Department for Courts, New Zealand