penalty notice

blackthorn · 04-06-2006, 09:13

Hi all, I`m after a bit of advice.
I`ve received a penalty notice from New South Wales in Australia, from the fines department, for a parking offence. The fine is 75$
I have never been to Australia and i dont know anybody that has.
They have got my surname correct and my full address correct but they have my christian name wrong.
It is defintely an official fine notice.
All i have done at the moment is email the fines dept where it was issued from and explained that they must have the wrong person but the worrying thing is, in the modern world of computers , records are shared amongst depts all over the world and will there be a record somewhere about a non payment of fine.
I know that nobody is going to come and arrest me over this but I`d like to clear this up and set the record straight.
Is there anymore that i can do, other than what i have done, which is email the fines dept.
Cheers.

**Graham M** · 04-06-2006, 09:19

phone them?

eddie00001 · 04-06-2006, 09:48

Well, if you have no intention of going to Australia, you could just ignore it. But a letter/e-mail advising them that you are not the person on the endorsement, not have you ever been to Australia should start the ball rolling on how to settle this. Somehow I doubt you are the first person this has happened to, and they'll probably be able to advise you on how to sort this out.

lemarsh · 04-06-2006, 09:55

is it worth contacting the Australian High Commision in London?

**Graham M** · 04-06-2006, 09:57

It couldnt hurt to try really could it?

blackthorn · 04-06-2006, 10:11

I`ll ring them in the morning. I`ve been to their webiste looking for email address but I couldnt find it. Thanks everyone

**Graham M** · 04-06-2006, 10:12

You cant beat phoning though!

**Russ** · 04-06-2006, 10:13

Unless the fine is from an EU country or you're planning on going to Australia then simply bin it. They have no jurisdiction in the UK and no power to enforce the fine.

I'd be a bit suspicious over this though as there's no way they could have obtained your details from the DVLA, who do not give out details to overseas official (certainly not to Oz).

04-06-2006, 10:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackthorn

Hi all, I`m after a bit of advice.
I`ve received a penalty notice from New South Wales in Australia, from the fines department, for a parking offence. The fine is 75$
I have never been to Australia and i dont know anybody that has.
They have got my surname correct and my full address correct but they have my christian name wrong.
It is defintely an official fine notice.
All i have done at the moment is email the fines dept where it was issued from and explained that they must have the wrong person but the worrying thing is, in the modern world of computers , records are shared amongst depts all over the world and will there be a record somewhere about a non payment of fine.
I know that nobody is going to come and arrest me over this but I`d like to clear this up and set the record straight.
Is there anymore that i can do, other than what i have done, which is email the fines dept.
Cheers.

Identity fraud????

Halcyon · 04-06-2006, 11:06

The thing which really annoys me about things like this is they normally don't even say thankyou for highlighting the problem to them.
Like last year we were sent a wholeload of money and NHS cards, and everything else as they had got our name mixed up. We were not the people meant to receive it at all.
I had to spend ages on the phone which cost me money, had to go sort out the problems at the bank, etc.
All of this takes time.
And did they give me any thanks or say sorry ? Not at all.

banjo · 04-06-2006, 12:07

Get in touch with your local paper they love this sort of story, they might even sort it out for you, I would still be wary that someone is trying to scam you and extract all you details, please be careful.

You could take it into the Citizens Advice people to see what they think ?