Summons Issued Too Late (6-Month Time Limit)
When a fixed charge notice (FCN) for a parking offence is not paid and the case moves to court, the prosecution must apply for a summons within 6 months of the date the alleged offence took place. This 6-month deadline is strict — if the prosecution misses it, the District Court has no power to hear the case and the summons is void. This is one of the most dependable defences available to you when an unpaid FCN slowly works its way toward court proceedings.
Legal basis
Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 s.10(4); Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 s.1; DPP v. Logan [1994] 3 IR 254; DPP v. Sheeran [1986] ILRM 579.
How to identify this in your case
Compare the date of the alleged parking offence (on the FCN) with the date the summons was applied for or issued. If more than 6 months have elapsed between offence date and application for summons, the prosecution is statute-barred.
Sample appeal wording
To: [Fixed Charge Processing Office / District Court Clerk] Re: FCN [NUMBER] / Summons [NUMBER] Vehicle: [REG] Alleged offence date: [OFFENCE DATE] I write to challenge the validity of the above summons on jurisdictional grounds. 1. The alleged offence occurred on [OFFENCE DATE]. 2. The summons was applied for / issued on [SUMMONS DATE], a period of [X] months after the alleged offence. 3. Section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 provides that a complaint in respect of a summary offence must be made within 6 months from the time when the cause of complaint arose. This time limit applies to road traffic summary offences (DPP v. Logan [1994] 3 IR 254; DPP v. Sheeran [1986] ILRM 579). 4. As the application was made outside the statutory 6-month period, the District Court has no jurisdiction. The summons is a nullity and must be struck out. I request that the proceedings be discontinued and the FCN cancelled. Yours faithfully, [NAME]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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Scan my ticketSources
- https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1851/act/93/section/10/enacted/en/html
- DPP v. Logan [1994] 3 IR 254