Drivers are receiving €85 out-of-court settlement notices for expired vehicle licences despite having paid for renewals due to systematic failures at the Road Transport Department that have gone unaddressed for over two months.
The issue emerged when drivers began complaining to traffic police that they were receiving fines despite having completed licence renewals for their vehicles.
Investigation revealed the Road Transport Department’s renewal system had been malfunctioning, with some licences processing correctly whilst others failed despite payment.
Road Transport Department system rejected renewals despite payment processing
According to explanations provided to affected citizens, the system initially appeared to process renewals successfully, with banks confirming receipt of payments.
However, the system subsequently rejected these transactions due to technical problems, automatically refunding money to customers’ accounts without notification of the failure.
Multiple families have been affected, with cases including one family where two of three vehicle licences failed to renew despite payment and another where all three family vehicles remained unrenewed despite payment, resulting in fines for all three drivers.
The problem compounds when drivers attempt to renew licences after discovering the issue, as the system imposes penalties proportionate to the licence fee.
Citizens who complained about these additional charges at Road Transport Department offices were told “the system generates the fine, and we cannot do anything about it”.
Traffic police issue €85 fines whilst unable to distinguish genuine violations
The situation becomes more complex as law-abiding citizens are stopped by traffic police whose automatic number plate recognition systems indicate expired vehicle licences.
Surprised drivers discover their licences have not been renewed since 2024, despite being convinced they had paid for renewal.
Traffic police explain they cannot allow drivers with apparent violations to proceed without issuing fines, as officers cannot distinguish between genuine non-renewal and system failures. This results in widespread €85 fines for drivers who believed their licences were valid.
Affected citizens face an additional bureaucratic burden to resolve their cases, requiring them to contact the Road Transport Department via email, approach traffic police to cancel fines, followed by traffic police referring cases to the Attorney General’s office.
Initially, few complaints were reported, but stricter traffic police enforcement has resulted in dozens of cases and mounting fines. Citizens who pay fines face complex and lengthy procedures to recover their money.
Critical questions remain over why the Road Transport Department, aware of the problem for over two months, failed to issue public warnings for drivers to verify their licence status.
This left vehicles circulating without valid licences, potentially affecting insurance coverage in accidents and creating additional legal consequences for drivers.
The lack of immediate resolution for documented system failures means the Attorney General’s office faces hundreds of cancellation cases, whilst traffic police continue issuing fines despite knowing about the technical problems.