NSW Police Visited Son for Unpaid Petrol - What to Do?

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kam2196

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17 November 2017
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My son was involved in not paying for petrol after filling up. It was his car but he was not driving. The driver told him that he had paid by phone pay. I have had the police at my house wanting to know who the driver is and names of everyone in the car. They brought a paper out. They said that this was a section 13 and if he doesn't give them the info they want, they can charge him with more offences.

They are coming back tonight to get the info that they want, they will take action. What should he do?
 

Tim W

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28 April 2014
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Give them the name of the driver.
 

Tim W

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Give them the name of the driver.
 

Jonny Law

Active Member
15 January 2016
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The last thing you want to do is listen to that twat and tell them who drove. If they had enough evidence to charge anyone they would not be coming around asking questions.
I once took my father's car for a bit of a joy ride, ended up being chased by cops, no license so long story short I lost them and went home. Dad woke up to police banging on the door, they swore up and down that I'd be getting into trouble for this and that if I went down to the police station and gave a statement they'd go easy on me. They were lying. They had nothing on me, kept trying to get my dad to say that I'd taken the car, he wouldn't say it. After about an hour of their pestering my dad told them to leave.
Never got caught for it. Moral of the story is never talk to police, any decent lawyer would tell you that. So I'm pretty sure Tim here isn't a lawyer or not a good one anyway.
 

Rob Legat - SBPL

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You don't get the "LawTap Verified Lawyer" tag in a box of Cornflakes.

Odds are the service station had video footage of the car, and they looking to press charges. Service station drive offs are, or at least were, something that was being targeted for action. So the owner of the car can either give up the driver, or possibly wear the charge. I don't practice in criminal law, but if I was approached by a client asking me what to do I would give the same answer as Tim.

For someone who has admitted to "being lucky" with their past drug problems, I would think advocating a bit more care would be a good idea.
 

Iamthelaw

Well-Known Member
13 September 2016
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Hmm..

You mention that the vehicle was your son's, so why are the police asking you to name the driver?

While the general rule is that lawyers would advise their clients to not answer police questions there can be some exceptions or instances whereby more detailed advice is given. There are powers both in NSW and VIC for police to in essence 'force' people to disclose the identity of a person who commits an indictable offence or who was driving a motor vehicle and in turn makes it an offence for a person to fail to disclose a person's details.

If the vehicle is not registered in your name I doubt that you would be deemed a 'responsible person' and would think it's reasonable that you don't know who the driver of your son's vehicle was.

Should the police come back I would tell them that it's not your vehicle and you can't be expected to know who may be in control of it. In the interim, more information is probably needed so I would also recommend getting advice from a lawyer.
 

Clancy

Well-Known Member
6 April 2016
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Did you ask the driver for the 'phone pay' invoice? If they have one, it could be a screwup by the petrol station, in which case it is an offense to report a false crime to police.

Or it is more likely the driver screwed up the transaction somehow without realizing it. If the driver does not have a criminal record involving doing this kind of thing then its probably just an innocent mistake, everyone makes mistakes, bit ridiculous having the police running around town for it!
 

Jonny Law

Active Member
15 January 2016
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You don't get the "LawTap Verified Lawyer" tag in a box of Cornflakes.

Odds are the service station had video footage of the car, and they looking to press charges. Service station drive offs are, or at least were, something that was being targeted for action. So the owner of the car can either give up the driver, or possibly wear the charge. I don't practice in criminal law, but if I was approached by a client asking me what to do I would give the same answer as Tim.

For someone who has admitted to "being lucky" with their past drug problems, I would think advocating a bit more care would be a good idea.

Agreed, I just hate the amount of convictions the police get praise for from simply bullying naive people into a confession or giving a statement against another.
 

Clancy

Well-Known Member
6 April 2016
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Agreed, I just hate the amount of convictions the police get praise for from simply bullying naive people into a confession or giving a statement against another.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse for committing a crime, and yet ignorance of your rights is taken advantage of by police to get convictions - interesting isn't it?
 

Tim W

Lawyer
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28 April 2014
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...If the driver does not have a criminal record involving doing this kind of thing then its probably just an innocent mistake, everyone makes mistakes, bit ridiculous having the police running around town for it!
In which case, there is benefit in doing early,
that which you will eventually have to do anyway,
which is give them the name of the driver.
Which makes statements like
The last thing you want to do is listen to that twat and tell them who drove.
very bad advice indeed.
So I'm pretty sure Tim here isn't a lawyer or not a good one anyway.
<sigh>
I'm somewhat surprised that @lawanswers Admin has allowed you
to continue to be heard here at all.
You are clearly in need of the kind of help you get from doctors, not lawyers.
 
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