A fine may be imposed by an infringement notice (e.g. parking fines) or a court order (e.g. drink driving offences). If you want to dispute an infringement notice you can elect to have it taken to court.

Fines are payable within the time allowed by the court or infringement notice. If you cannot afford to pay a court fine in that time, you can complete an application for time to pay at the court registry. There is no similar form for infringement notice fines, so if you cannot afford to pay, you should elect to have the matter heard by the court, explain your financial situation to the magistrate and request time to pay.

State Debt Recovery Office

If you do not pay a fine or comply with an instalment order, the fine will  be sent to the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO), which is a department that collects government debts (www.sdro.nsw.gov.au  ).

The SDRO can provide you with details of all your unpaid fines. You can apply to pay your fines by instalments.

If you do not pay your fines or come to an agreement with the SDRO about payment by instalments, then the SDRO will cancel your driver's licence. It also has a wide range of other powers including court debt recovery and bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy extinguishes infringement notice fines, but not court fines. However, if you become bankrupt, the SDRO will usually not let you get your driver's licence back until the fines are paid.

 

DISCLAIMER The information provided in this information sheet is of a general nature only, and is not intended to be legal advice. There may be errors or inaccuracies or the information may not be completely up-to-date. Always check the information provided before relying on it. The information relates to consumer law in New South Wales, Australia.