Almost 1,000 speeding fines being revoked by Gardai

Almost 1,000 speeding fines notices are being revoked after Gardai issued them with the wrong location.

Gardai in a statement said they had begun the process of writing to motorists to inform them that fines and penalty points issued to them for speeding offences on the N25 in Kilkenny detected by the static speed safety camera system between May 30 and June 30 5 are being revoked.

914 speeding fixed charge notices were issued over this period.

Of the 914 fixed charge notices issued - 128 notices were paid and penalty points applied, 56 were paid however the error was identified prior to penalty points being applied, and of the remaining 730 notices that were issued, no payment was made prior to the error being identified, therefore no penalty points were applied.

Gardai said, following a query on June 30, they confirmed an error with the offence location on Fixed Charge Notices (FCN) emanating from the Static Safety Camera located on the N25, Kilkenny.

"This error is a result of human error when inputting the offence location onto the processing system," the statement said.

The error was rectified immediately and the Static Safety Camera resumed operations with detections from July 4 being valid.

"An Garda Síochána takes full responsibility for this error and have completed a review of all offence locations associated with Static and Average Safety Cameras. This error only affected the static camera on the N25.

£Additional oversight has been introduced in relation to the verification of offence locations on the FCN processing system prior to the any additional static/average safety cameras going live.

"An Garda Síochána is very conscious of our statutory responsibility for road safety and is committed to delivering a professional policing service to enforcement of speeding via a variety of speed safety cameras. This error is very much regretted. An Garda Síochána continues to work steadfastly with all our partners in Road Safety endeavouring to reduce the human toll of road deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” said Chief Superintendent Roads Policing, David Harrington.

An Garda Síochána has informed the Departments of Justice and Transport, the Policing & Community Safety Authority, the Road Safety Authority, and the Safety Camera Board of the matter.

In respect of those Fixed Charge Notices, An Garda Síochána is cancelling any fines and penalty points resulting from these notices. An Garda Síochána is writing to each individual affected and refunds will issue with penalty points removed where necessary.

Motorists impacted by this do not need to do anything, they will receive a letter in the post. However, if they have further concerns they can ring the FCN Help Desk at 0818 50 60 80.

There were no summons issued relating to non-payment of these fines within the prescribed time.