The Law Handbook 2024

98 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law to issue an enforcement warrant, which adds an additional fee to the penalty; c After a notice of final demand is issued, other enforcement sanctions become available: – suspending, not granting or not renewing a person’s driver licence or registration, or – making an attachment of earnings or debts direction, or – applying for a charge over land. 4 An enforcement warrant is issued a After a notice of final demand expires, the Director of Fines Victoria may apply to a registrar of the Magistrates’ Court to issue an enforcement warrant. Once an enforcement warrant is issued, the sheriff can impose various other sanctions, including detaining, immobilising and towing a person’s vehicle, removing number plates, and seizing and selling the person’s personal property and land; b Payment of the penalty and the costs stated in the enforcement warrant prevents a seven-day notice being issued and expiates the offence; or c Non-payment results in the issuing of a seven- day notice. 5 A seven-day notice is issued a A seven-day notice is the final notice that is served before an enforcement warrant is executed; once an enforcement warrant is executed, the person can either have their property seized or they can be arrested; b Payment of the penalty and all the costs stated in the enforcement warrant before the seven- day notice expires will expiate the offence; or c Non-payment results in the execution of an enforcement warrant through the person’s arrest or the seizure and sale of their property, including motor vehicles. If arrested, the person can either be bailed to appear in court under section 165 of the FR Act, or they may be eligible for a community work permit (see ‘What happens if I take no action?’, below). Your options if you get an infringement notice Summary of options There are a number of stages in the infringements process, and your options change according to the stage the matter has reached. Before you decide what to do, look at all the available options to see which one best fits your particular situation. Whatever you choose to do, be aware of the time limits involved; if you wait too long, it may be too late to take the option that is best for you. If you are unsure what to do, you can ask for help from a financial counselling service (see Chapter 5.4: Financial counselling services) or from a community legal centre or Victoria Legal Aid (see Chapter 2.4: Legal services that can help). The options available to you at various stages of the infringements system process are to: 1 do nothing (not recommended); 2 pay the fine; 3 ask the enforcement agency to internally review its decision to issue the infringement notice (i.e. ask for the notice to be withdrawn or for an official warning to be issued through an internal review); 4 nominate another driver (for certain vehicle offences); 5 negotiate a payment plan (i.e. ask for more time to pay or arrange to pay the fine by instalments); 6 dispute the fine and take the matter to the Magistrates’ Court; 7 apply to have the enforcement of the fine reviewed by Fines Victoria (i.e. cancelled) after the fine has been registered with Fines Victoria – this is also called ‘enforcement review’; 8 apply to withdraw the fine under the Family Violence Scheme at any stage; 9 apply for a work and development permit. Some of these options are only available at certain stages of the infringements process or for certain fines. Some have different results depending on when they are put into effect. For more information, see the infringements process table on the next page. Deciding which option to take Before deciding which option is best for your situation, it is important to be clear about exactly how much money you owe in fines. You can find out how much money you owe from Fines Victoria (see ‘Contacts’ at the end of this chapter). You may also have other infringement notices outstanding that you are not aware of (e.g. if you have moved house and not received infringement notices). If you request this information, you may be asked to supply the information list on page 103: