Pathetic fine for Licence Dodger

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Richard Baker 4

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Is it me or is the fine this angler faced asolutely farcical. Only a ?60 fine??????? OK he had to pay ?450 costs but thats besides the point. I thought Licence dodgers could be fined up to 2500???

What do you have to do to get fined that much??? Kill the EA Bailif?

Why can't the fine be a fixed cost, say ?1000?
 
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Baz

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I don't think the fine was farcical Richard.
Usually, a first time offence will get you a 80 - 100 pound fine, depending on the circumstances i.e. straight forward and no messing about.

In this chaps case, he not only failed to enter a plea in the first instance, but never bothered to turn up at court either, so a second hearing was set, where the excuse he gave that he was only setting his rod up before going off to buy a licence just will not wash. Instead of holding his hands up and saying it's a fair cop, all he did was to dig a deeper hole for himself. Thereby paying ?500 instead of a possible ?100.

I have argued this point in the past on this forum, but was shot down.
But this case proves it. The intention to fish whithout a licence is enough to get you prosecuted.

The more a person shilly shallys about when caught whithout a licence, the more it will cost him in the end. Usually.
 
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madpiker

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the more a person shilly shallys about when caught............etc.and rightly so baz.imo there is no excuse for anyone not to have a licence.i bet that these people who say that they are too poor to buy a licence think nothing of spending money down the pub.even the poorest person could put a few pence a week into a box and put it towards a once a year purchase.
 
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jon helyer

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I think its about time more MAXIMUM fines were dished out, and the perpetraters names published, as a more severe deterrent....
 
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jason fisher

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my mate got nabbed for not having a licence and he genuinely didn't know you needed one, he knew nothing about fishing and i was taking him and forgot to tell him, should he have got max fine, as it was it cost him 90 quid.
 
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jon helyer

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The EA do say that ignorance is not an excuse though, otherwise I suppose everyone without a licence could say they didn't know that they had to have one.....
 
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Merv Harrison

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I was recently talking to an angler, who had that day been caught fishing without a licence, the bailiff allowed him to go to the village Post Office and purchase a 'one day licence', on producing this to the bailiff he was told that all he would receive would be a caution.
 
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Frank "Chubber" Curtis

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Merv, I'm sure be against the rules. It was an offence for him to be fishing without a licence no matter how soon he bought one after he'd been caught. The offence was being committed at the time he failed to produce one and therefore he should have been nicked.
It's exactly the same situation as being caught without Road Tax.
I've lost count of the matches I've been on where the number of anglers rapidly reduced as soon as word spread that bailiffs were checking licences. On all matches contestants should be made to produce their licence before drawing their peg. Not having one is unfair to the other anglers and all other anglers in general.
 
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The Digital Monkey

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It's not up to the ea baillif to deceide what punishment the angler receive's all he can do is report his findings.It is then up to the EA law department what coarse of action to take at the end of the day he was fishing without a licence.
 
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jason fisher

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merv
tim went and got a licence straight after being informed, he still got the 90 quid fine.
 
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madpiker

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did you pay his fine for him jason?seeing as you forgot to tell him that he needed a licence:)
 
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Merv Harrison

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A fine may follow for this bloke then, obviously the bailiff must have taken his details to say he'd get a caution, that could then be interesting )o)


And yes, I agree with you Baz, GUILTY by association.
 
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Jim Gibbinson

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Not only will "shilly shallying" raise the level of fine imposed, but failure to provide correct details (i.e. giving a false name and address) will do likewise.
 
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Merv Harrison

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You've raised an interesting point there Jim, if the bailiff allows him to go off and purchase a 'one day licence', and then checks that licence, it virtually guarantees that all details are correct, ie: name, address, date of birth. This eliminates any false details being given, this bailiff may be cleverer than we thought, and there has been no unpleasant scene's. A fine may well follow.
 
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Baz

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For what it is worth, the bailiff could have told him after taking his details, that he still needs to purchase a current E.A. licence if he wants to fish.
 
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