Dispute a fine in court

If you don’t dispute a fine within 28 days of the date on the notice:

• the State Penalties Enforcement Registry may take enforcement action to recover the amount of the fine, including additional referral fees, from you
• demerit points will be added to your traffic record from the day the offence was committed.

To dispute a fine:

• submit an Election for Court at www.qld.gov.au/contestfine
  or
• download and print the form:
  • dispute a fine in court for an individual (form F5111)
    or
  • a dispute the fine in court for a company (form F5112)

You can then scan the form and send by email to courtelections@treasury.qld.gov.au or by mail to:

Queensland Revenue Office
GPO Box 1447
BRISBANE  QLD  4000

Before deciding to go to court to dispute an infringement notice, please consider the following:

Representing yourself or engaging legal representation

You don’t have to have a lawyer when you go to court. If you want, you can represent yourself in any of Queensland’s courts, or choose to engage legal representation.

If you chose to represent yourself, before you go to court make sure you understand the facts and read any documentation you have which may be relevant to your case. You may have to present this information in a clear and concise way in court.

Presenting your case in court

Plan what you are going to say and decide on any evidence you want to present to support your case. You will also need to decide whether you are going to call witnesses to support your case. Make copies of any important documents you may be planning to mention or present as evidence in court—you may need to give copies to the court and the prosecution.

Forms and fees

You may need to file legal documents and forms relevant to your case—for example, to summons a witness to attend court—and there may be fees associated with this.

You may need to pay the offender levy

An offender levy is an administrative fee that helps pay for the cost of law enforcement and administration. This levy is applied to any offender (other than a child) sentenced in the Supreme, District or Magistrates court, whether or not a conviction is recorded. The levy ranges depending if the sentence is imposed by the Magistrates, Supreme or District Court.

Find more information about the offender levy.

Other fines

To dispute fines where the offence was not detected by a traffic camera, police officer or transport inspector, you must contact the issuing authority.

For example, local councils issue parking fines. To dispute this type of fine you must contact the local council that issued the fine.

Valid position titles of organisation representatives

To elect a court hearing for an infringement issued to an organisation, you must hold a valid position title.

Court election submissions that do not meet the requirements will not be accepted and will be returned to your organisation for further action.