Convicted in absence

No knowledge of legal proceedings

Being ‘convicted in absence’ under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act (also known as ‘trial in absentia’) means that the court reached a decision to sentence you for an alleged offence even though you did not attend the court hearing in person.

This can happen by mistake if you accidentally forget to respond to a letter, or if you didn’t know you had to attend at all.

If you have been convicted in your absence of a road traffic offence and you were unaware of the proceedings against you, you need to seek the expertise of a specialists driving offence solicitor. 

At MAJ Law, we offer the very best privately funded legal advice and representation to motorists accused of driving offences on a nationwide basis.

Making a Statutory Declaration

A statutory declaration might be used where someone is stopped by the police, reported for an offence but then hears nothing about the case until they are convicted. A statutory declaration sets a conviction aside. The case is then re-opened for you to plead guilty or not guilty to the offence.

The following criteria must be met for the declaration to be successful:

• the case started with a summons or requisition;
• the defendant did not know about the case; and
• not more than 21 days after finding out about it (which time limit can be extended) the defendant delivers to the court a statutory declaration that he or she did not know about the case until after the trial

What documents will I need?

The form required to provide a statutory declaration can be seen and downloaded below:

You can complete and submit a statutory declaration to the Magistrates' Court yourself, or you can instruct us to do this on your behalf.

What our clients say...