The Law Handbook 2024

104 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law the enforcement agency, you can still pay the penalty within 14 days. However, there will be additional costs added at this stage. You can also pay the penalty after the enforcement agency has referred the matter to Fines Victoria and a notice of final demand has been issued. If you decide to pay the penalty, but do not have enough money to pay the full amount within the time limit, see ‘Arrange a payment plan with the enforcement agency’ and ‘Apply to Fines Victoria for a payment arrangement’, below. You may also be able to apply to have any additional fees (that have been added by Fines Victoria) waived (see ‘Requests to waive additional fees’, below). Option 3: Ask the enforcement agency to review its decision Overview Under the Infringements Act, you can ask the enforcement agency to review its decision to issue a fine at any time before the fine is registered with Fines Victoria (which is typically 49 days after the infringement notice is served on you). This process is intended to be a simple and accessible way to request that an impartial person within the enforcement agency reviews the decision to issue the fine. An internal review may be requested where: • the decision to issue the infringement notice was contrary to law (e.g. a parking ticket was issued when you had complied with the relevant parking regulations); • there was a mistake of identity; • you have special circumstances, or exceptional circumstances, that mean you should not have to pay the fine (see ‘Special circumstances’ and ‘Exceptional circumstances’, below); • you were unaware of the infringement notice having been served or the notice was not served by personal service: – applications for internal reviews based on this ground must be made within 14 days of the applicant becoming aware of the infringement notice, – note that an application for an internal review on this ground does not result in a cancellation of the infringement, instead it gives the person Option 1: Do nothing This is not recommended. The effects of doing nothing become progressively more severe as the infringement process progresses. At each successive stage, you become liable to pay more as extra costs are added to the original penalty (see ‘What happens after an infringement notice is issued?’ and ‘Summary of options’, above). Also, notices of final demand and enforcement warrants do not expire. For this reason, it is not recommended that you take no action. Enforcement measures (including wheel clamping and licence suspension) may also be taken against you. If you do not take any action, eventually you can have your car seized and sold. You may also be arrested and, in very limited circumstances, sentenced to serve time in prison. The consequences of not taking any action in response to outstanding fines are described in further in ‘What happens if I take no action?’, below. If an infringement notice is for excessive speeding or for a drug-driving or drink-driving offence, doing nothing could have more serious consequences. As well as having the penalty enforced through the infringements system, you will have a conviction recorded against you and lose your licence for a set period (for more information, see ‘1 Infringement notices’ in Chapter 6.8: Driving offences). Option 2: Pay the fine You can pay the fine and any added costs at any stage of the infringements process until an enforcement warrant is executed. However, the longer you wait to pay the fine, the more expensive it will be. It also becomes more difficult to negotiate payment arrangements that suit your circumstances. You can pay the penalty within the time indicated on the infringement notice, which is usually 21 days (but check the notice). Check when this time period starts: it may run from the date the notice was issued, or from the date you received the notice at home. If you have paid the penalty within the time limit, no further action should be taken by the agency that issued the notice. The notice should tell you where and how you can pay the penalty (e.g. cheque, cash or EFTPOS). Make sure you get a receipt from the agency as proof of your payment. If you wait until the 21-day period has expired and a penalty reminder notice has been sent to you by