Third-strike "pay-to-kill-the-summons" notice missing or wrong
Irish fixed-charge law has a THIRD statutory payment stage that sits after the 28-day and 56-day stages: once a summons issues, a fresh fixed charge notice must be served WITH the summons offering the motorist a final chance to pay (double the original charge) up to 7 days before the court date, which discontinues the prosecution entirely. If the summons arrives without that accompanying s.44 notice, or the notice states the wrong amount or wrong deadline, the motorist has been unlawfully denied the third statutory opportunity.
Legal basis
Road Traffic Act 2010 (No. 25 of 2010), s. 44 ("Payment of fixed charge on service of summons"), as SUBSTITUTED by Road Traffic Act 2016 (No. 21 of 2016), s. 27, commenced 1 June 2017 by S.I. No. 242 of 2017 — mandatory service of a "section 44 notice" with, and in the same manner as, the summons (s.44(1)-(2)), with final payment permitted up to 7 days before the court date (s.44(4)(b)) at the doubled charge (s.44(5)). Cross-reference: s. 36(2)(e) (fixed charge notice form). DROP the old s. 36(4) cite — s. 36(4) was Deleted (1.06.2017) by RTA 2016 s. 25(h), S.I. No. 242 of 2017.
How to identify this in your case
Customer received a court summons for the parking/traffic offence. Check: (a) was a separate fixed-charge notice enclosed WITH the summons offering a pay-to-discontinue option? If none was enclosed = defect. (b) The amount demanded must be exactly double (100% greater than) the original charge on the first FCN, not the +50% second-stage figure — a mismatch is a defect. (c) The deadline must be "not later than 7 days before" the hearing date printed on the summons — any earlier cut-off misstates the statutory window.
Sample appeal wording
formal
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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