Fines & Infringement Notices

This fact sheet deals with fines managed by Fines Victoria.
If you’re not sure what your options are, refer to the infringement notice or contact the agency that issued the fine.

Fines fall into two general categories:

  • Infringement notices or on-the-spot fines issued by a police officer, transit officer, parking inspector or council ranger. These only end up in court if they are unpaid or challenged.
  • Fines the court orders you to pay (see fact sheet 18)

Infringement notices

After you receive an infringement notice, you have 21 days to deal with your fine. You can choose to pay it, or deal with it in another way.

Your infringement notice will include information about:

  • Your offence
  • How much you owe
  • How you can pay
  • Your options for dealing with the fine
  • The fine due date

If you’ve received a fine issued by a local council or a public transport fine, you’ll need to deal with your fine through the agency that issued it (i.e. Yarra Trams or Metro), if it is at infringement stage.

If you don’t think the fine is right

Request a review. You can ask the agency who fined you to review (take another look at) your fine if you believe there was a mistake in giving you the fine, there are exceptional circumstances which mean you should not have to pay it, or you were not aware you were issued the fine.

Make sure to put your request in writing and keep a copy of the letter.

This Fines Victoria infographic shows the stages of a fine and the options available to you at each stage as at 7 May 2020:

This infographic shows the stages of a fine and the options available at each stage.

TIP: Use this online tool to explore your personalised options. https://finefixer.org.au/

Nominate a driver

If you are fined for a driving offence, and you were not the driver, you can get the fine transferred to the person who was driving. Do this quickly to avoid extra costs.

Refer the matter to the Magistrates’ Court

You can choose to challenge the fine by referring it to the Magistrates’ Court if:

  • You do not think you broke the law
  • It was not you who broke the law, it was someone else
  • You believe you should not have to pay the full amount.

You can apply to court any time until the infringement is registered with Fines Victoria. It is important to get legal advice before you choose this option.

Payment arrangements

If you can afford to pay a small regular amount, you can contact Fines Victoria to set up a payment plan. Use this budget tool to help work out what you can afford.

Fines Victoria can’t refuse to offer you a payment plan if you hold:

  • A pensioner concession
  • A healthcare card
  • A Veterans’ Affairs Concession Card.

If the agency agrees to a payment plan, you should start making the repayments as soon as possible (and definitely by the date you agreed), stick to the arrangement, and call as soon as possible if you know you will miss a payment.

Failure to stick to the plan may mean extra penalties

Work and Development Permit (WDP)

The WDP scheme provides vulnerable people with a non-financial option to deal with their fine debt, such as activity like drug and alcohol counselling or seeing a financial counsellor with an accredited sponsor of the scheme. A sponsor is an organisation or a health practitioner (psychologist, doctor or nurse) registered for the scheme.

You may be eligible if you cannot afford to pay your fine and you are experiencing one of the following:

  • A mental illness
  • An intellectual disability
  • Addiction to drugs or alcohol
  • Family violence
  • Homelessness
  • Extreme financial hardship.

Family Violence Scheme

You can apply to Fines Victoria under the Family Violence Scheme if you are a victim of family violence, and either:

  • Someone else was driving your vehicle at the time, and you are unable to nominate the driver
  • The family violence contributed to the offence e.g. you were speeding away from a dangerous situation.

You will need to support your application with a statutory declaration and at least one other piece of evidence, such as a copy of a family violence intervention order or a report from a family violence support worker. Please note: reviews under this scheme can be very slow.
This scheme is not available for people with registered court fines, excessive speeding (driving more than 25 km over the speed limit or over 130 km per hour), or drink or drug driving fines.

Asking for a review of your fine at enforcement or warrant stage

If you have received a notice of final demand, an enforcement warrant or a seven-day notice, you can apply for an enforcement review if you:

  • Disagree with the fine
  • Think you should pay the amount on the original fine and not the extra costs
  • Have special circumstances that apply to you.

The easiest way to apply for an enforcement review is through the Fines Victoria website. Fines Victoria will review your application and will either decide to enforce the fine or cancel enforcement of the fine and send it back to the issuing agency.