The Law Handbook 2024

118 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law • apply for a WDP; or • apply for an internal review on the same grounds as an adult, as long as the matter has not yet gone to the Children’s Court. Instead of your fine being registered for enforcement with the Director, you will usually be referred to the Children and Young Persons Infringement Notice System ( CAYPINS) . If you do not pay your fine, it will go to the Children’s Court and you will be sent a Notice of Court Case. When you get the notice, you have five options: • pay your fine before the due date on the notice; • ask for more time to pay the fine; • ask for the fine to be reduced (the fine can be reduced to $0 if you do not have an income); • ask for your hearing to be adjourned; or • ask for your matter to be heard in the Children’s Court if you do not think you should pay the fine. Fines for driving on a toll road without paying Driving on a toll road – namely Linkt (formerly known as Citylink) or Eastlink – ‘unauthorised’, that is without paying, is a criminal offence for which infringements are routinely issued. However, these fines start off as civil debts payable to the toll road operator company, that is, Transurban (for Linkt) or Connect East (for Eastlink). Sometimes the toll road operators use debt collectors to pursue people for unpaid toll fees before referring the matters to become fines. What are my options at the civil debt stage? At the civil debt stage, hardship options are available from the toll road operator. These can include payment plans, waivers of late fees, or waivers of the whole outstanding amount. It is worth contacting the relevant toll road operator if your toll debts are the result of an inability to pay, family violence, health issues or other difficulties. Transurban’s hardship team is called Linkt Assist. Eastlink does not have a dedicated hardship phone line but has a hardship email address. Hardship resolutions need to be negotiated with the toll road operator. The Tolling Customer Ombudsman is available if you are not satisfied with the outcome (see ‘Contacts’ at the end of this chapter). You can check whether you have outstanding toll debts at www.linkt.com.au/toll-invoices/ melbourne for Linkt and https://transact.eastlink. com.au/public_portal/pages/info/info_home/ publicHome.jsf for Eastlink. What are my options once an infringement has been issued? If toll road fees remain unpaid for 180 days, toll road operators usually refer the matter to the Victoria Police Toll Enforcement Office. Victoria Police issues and manages the fine in the same way other fines are administered. Toll road infringement notices are valued at one penalty unit ($192.31), so a lot more than the fees owed to the toll road companies. You can make the same applications to deal with your toll fines as all other fines (see Options 1–9, above), including enforcement review, the Family Violence Scheme, or a work and development permit once the fines have been referred to Victoria Police. Recent changes The Justice Legislation (Fines Reform and Other Matters) Act 2022 (Vic) enabled toll road operators to require Victoria Police to withdraw a toll road fine where the toll road operator requests it. This means if a toll road company becomes aware that a customer’s toll fines are the result of financial or other hardship, they can contact Fines Victoria and Victoria Police to have the fine withdrawn at any stage in the life of the fine. Currently, there is a lack of clarity around whether the new law applies to toll road infringement warrants that have been executed (i.e. where the person has been arrested and bailed to the Magistrates’ Court – see ‘Enforcement Warrant Hearings’ below). Efforts are being undertaken to resolve this issue, but for the time being Fines Victoria has taken the position that toll fines cannot be withdrawn by toll road operators after warrants have been executed. To make an application for your toll fines to be withdrawn on the basis of hardship, call or write to the Hardship Team at Linkt or Eastlink (see ‘Contacts’ at the end of this chapter). You need to provide: