Refuse to pay spot fines

EDITOR - On Thursday 5 September, at approximately 3.22pm on the corner of Lomagundi Road and Good Hope Road, Stapleford, a tall and well-built female police officer displaying no force number issued a receipt number 5750764 for a “fine” of $10 because a car window winder allegedly did not work. Neither the officer’s name or number on the “receipt” are legible, but if the police are interested in following this up, they can no doubt do so.

Of course, if they are not concerned, it is surely time for all of us to refuse to pay spot fines, as senior police officers and law officers have told us publicly. That does mean the cops should eventually issue you with a summons to attend court. But if enough of us are prepared for this, the chances that any one of us will actually get a summons are very slight. Magistrates and even the cops themselves don’t want to waste a lot of time on trivial and often frivolous cases like these.

You might have to wait an hour at a road block before they write your ticket, but if you aren’t prepared to do this much in pursuit of justice, you should not complain about the injustice to anyone who can’t do any more than you to right it. Certainly you’ll get no sympathy from me. – Magari Mandebvu

Post published in: Letters to the Editor

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