“First Timer...please Help!”

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I got a hand-held device ticket on Thursday March 16. $490 and 3 demerit points. The officer was hiding on a street and I drove by him with my phone in my hand.

Was just wondering if it's worth fighting it?

Has anybody got their points deducted...and not just the amount of money?

And if I do fight it, what do I say in order to get points or $ reduced? I'm afraid to say it but I did have the phone in my hand.

Any help/suggestions would be great appreciated!

Thanks!

It's only worth fighting it if you think you have a defence - which can include an error by the officer.

Points are administrative and not assigned by the court but by the MTO. Having said that I have heard JPs talk about reducing them although I'm not sure how that happens.

The biggest cost associated with a ticket is generally the insurance hike, not the actual fine. Points only become an issue if you get a lot of tickets.

JP's can not reduce points assigned to an offence. They are applied after the court process is complete. The only way a JP can "reduce" the points, is to convict using an offence that has less points.

So by selecting Option 2 is really for reducing the amount of money fined?

and potentially applying for a reduction in points after the fact?

You can not ever get a reduction in demerit points no matter what. Whatever you are convicted of will have demerits assigned to it, and those are the demerits you will get... there is no after the fact way to reduce them.

But remember that even a 0 demerit point charge can still cause increase in insurance as insurance companies do not care about demerits at all and do not look at demerits.

You MAY be able to convince a JP to reduce the fine a little, but with handheld fines that is unlikely. You can ask JP for extended time to pay though and they will usually grant that no problem.