Back in late June, a moment's inattention on the downhill run to DeBurgh's Bridge on Ryde Rd. early in the morning saw me pick up a camera ticket for 74km/h in a 70km/h zone.

I'm sure many of you would know the intersection.

Anyway, I paid the $123 with a BPay transfer and thought no more about it.

Until this month I got another ticket for the same offence, place, date and time!

Thank goodness for bank records, I sent them a copy of the proof of payment.

Think I'll get an apology?

Apology??? If you were in Victoria you would get another fine for not paying the fine. You would then go to court for insisting that you did
pay the fine, which you did, but the deadsh*t public servant processing your original infringement cannot find your receipt because the task
of fining you had been outsourced to a "private" contractor.

I'm sure many of you would know the intersection.

I do indeed. That camera was installed in 1994 after a runaway garbage truck with no brakes rolled over and killed two young drivers in the intersection. The downhill speed limit on trucks on that part of Ryde Rd was changed to 40 at the same time.

Even though my speedo reads a few kph high, I drive at 10kph below the limit through such camera spots. I don't trust the camera calibration regime.

Well what happens here in NSW is, after a reminder notice, it's passed on to the State Debt Recovery Office.

Abandon hope all ye who enter here!

If you don't pay the larger fine, they cancel your licence and car registration, whereupon the next time a police car comes into view it picks up your number plate and you may find yourself arrested. All sorts of draconian measures can then be applied.

Some 20 years back (is it really that long?) my daughter got done this way because of a house move and lost mail.

the next time a police car comes into view it picks up your number plate and you may find yourself arrested

Friend of mine, with a lead foot, had his licence suspended for racking up demerit points. Not long afterwards his brother's car was pulled over by police because the boat trailer he was towing with his car belonged to my friend. The cop thought he'd caught my friend driving whilst suspended, but fortunately he was in the passenger seat.

Ryde Road and Lady Game Drive? That camera is a lotto ticket, like the ones on the Princes Highway outside St George Private Hospital and on Cleveland Street at Moore Park.

I haven't been booked in recent years but this tale takes me back to a time when I rented a car off Thrifty to head camping out west. Anyway, whilst I was out in the Central West, another driver was using a car (same make, model and also from Thrifty, with a very similar number plate decided he'd drive through the Eastern Distributor tunnel without an e-toll tag.

Cutting a long story short, Thrifty cops a toll notice and they reply with the wrong number plate - mine. Airport Motorway Ltd, (the owner before Transurban invaded Sydney's arterial network) kept sending me toll notices, each with an added fee and threats of court action.

I kept replying, stating that I wasn't even in Sydney at the time and after referring to my hire documents to find out if they had nailed the right car, it turns out that Thrifty just gave them the wrong driver details. I sent them copies of credit card statements to prove that I was more than 400km away from the Eastern Distributor at the time the tolls were evaded and I said to them that if they took me to court, this would be the evidence I would bring to show the magistrate.

They then wrote back and asked me to contact Thrifty and get them to correct the record, to which I replied "GET STUFFED!". I said to them in no uncertain terms that I was not about to do their administration work for them.

I never heard from them again so they must have given up and did the job themselves.

Two things to remember:-

1. If you are genuinely in the right, do not give up. You will win eventually, no matter how farcical things seem to get.
2. Even when prompted by the bully, never resort to phone calls. There is no record of the event. Always write to them and demand their response in writing. That way, you can prove you attempted to clear the matter up.

Airport Motorways kept asking me to ring them and also asked for my phone number. There was no way they were getting the number or a phone call. Those bastards (all the toll companies are at it) think they can stalk and intimidate people for as little as a few bucks but they didn't scare me. The thing is, if you owe them money, just pay them and be done with it. But if you don't owe them, stick to your guns and make sure you compile a boatload of compelling evidence just in case they do send you a summons.

with a very similar number plate decided he'd drive through the Eastern Distributor tunnel without an e-toll tag.

In today's news:

Bizarre reason NSW couple keep getting incorrect penalty notices: https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/bizarre-reason-nsw-couple-keep-getting-incorrect-penalty-notices...

That's happened to me years ago with speeding tickets they just kept coming in the mail.
I asked for a total from the state Dept recover with the date I asked for the total

I remember when the black and white slim number plates with the letter, letter, letter, number, number, letter format came out in around 1992. An option to choose your own combination of numbers and letters followed but the letters I and O and the numerals 1 and 0 were not able to be deviated from the original character formatting, to assist with preventing two number plates looking exactly the same.

There are two Euro format number plates available in NSW. The original black on white ones have a slot cut out of the nought so that it cannot be confused with the letter O. On the other version, the nought is shaped like an egg with O being more uniform.

If you were in Victoria you would get another fine..

I keep reading stories about what a commie-police-state Vic has become.

It's interesting to see that news relating to 'No Plan Chairman Dan' is getting around the world. The bloke is a China lover and once tried to sign Victoria up to one of China's dodgey payday loans, otherwise known as a Belt and Road agreement. The bloke is a national embarrassment. The worrying thing is that he isn't the worst of the Premiers. He gets the nickname Chairman Dan from his apparent good relations with the Chinese Government and his left-wing political motives.

Yes, the zero vs 'oh' and one vs "i" recognition problem has been known for eons and it's no surprise to me that the idiots issuing these plates have created this agro for drivers.

The only time I have been involved in speed camera drama is when a friend of mine's car was stolen from her driveway one night. Next thing she starts getting in the mail speed camera fines and non payment of tunnel tolls letters. I had to deal with 6 of them for her, each time quoting to the Office of State Revenue or toll company the case number issued by Ashfield police who were dealing with the case as they had made the arrests. The four ratbags who stole her car went on a break-and-enter spree across Sydney at night and in some photos they were hanging out of the windows giving the bird to the camera.

Her car was held in a police compound for weeks for evidence collecting purposes and then we told abruptly by the mob running the holding yard to come and get it or pay a $52 per day holding charge.

The last few times I've driven on the M7 no charge has appeared on the statements. I wonder who got to pay that on my behalf.

I'm lucky in Wisconsin, no speed cameras, no tolls, turn-on-red ok, seat belt 'law' not enforced, talk-on-phone ok, no bicycle or motorbike helmet required, bicycle on sidewalk ok...

I ride my 1980s Schwinn semi-racer bike on urban sidewalks at nights because I don't trust roads or 'bike-lanes'. And sidewalks are deserted day & night because people don't walk anymore! - except for the odd vagrants & tramps who are easy to dodge.

Newvista !!
Sounds great ! This place is full of laws and rules and hoops to jump through. It's ridiculous now