$30,000 of fines wiped after successful review

Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre (BMCLC) is a generalist community legal centre. One of our largest practice areas is Infringements and recently Lachlan Tom (solicitor) assisted a single mother who had numerous traffic fines. An outline of her case follows. 

Alice (not her real name) had received over $30,000 of fines over a period of 5 years for driving on toll roads. Alice had suffered serious family violence during this time and part of the abuse involved her former partner taking her vehicle and incurring the fines. Due to fear for her own safety, Alice was unable to prevent her former partner from taking her car or request that he pay for the fines that he incurred.

BMCLC assisted Alice to make an application to have the fines withdrawn under the Family Violence Scheme. Fines Victoria considered the application and agreed to waive all $30,000 worth of fines!

The Family Violence Scheme was introduced on 1 January 2018. It is a specialised scheme to support people affected by family violence within the fines system. The scheme allows people to apply to Fines Victoria to have their infringements withdrawn if family violence substantially contributed to the offence or it is not safe for them to name the responsible person.  

Our Centre assists numerous individuals in Alice's position. If you would like assistance with your infringements, please contact our office in St Albans (8312 2020) or in Melton (9747 5240).