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Guide to Disputing a Ticket
Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2
How do I dispute my ticket? ............................................................................................. 3
What if I only want to dispute the fine? ............................................................................ 4
What if I want a lawyer to conduct my hearing? .............................................................. 5
What happens if I move before I get my Notice of Hearing? ........................................... 5
What if I can’t come to court on the date of the hearing? ................................................ 5
Can someone else go to court for me? ........................................................................... 6
What should I do to get ready for the hearing? ................................................................ 7
How can I find out what information the officer will bring to court? .................................. 8
What should I do when I come to court for the hearing? ................................................. 8
What if the officer doesn’t attend court for the hearing? .................................................. 9
What happens at the hearing? ...................................................................................... 10
Penalties ........................................................................................................................ 14
Definitions ...................................................................................................................... 15
More information ........................................................................................................... 15
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Introduction
The Provincial Court of British Columbia deals with three types of tickets:
Provincial Violation Tickets – for offences under B.C. laws, including traffic
offences under the Motor Vehicle Act and regulations, and offences under the
Liquor Control and Licensing Act
Federal Contravention Tickets – for offences under Canadian laws, such as
fishing without a licence under the federal Fisheries Act
Municipal Ticket Informations – for offences under municipal bylaws
This Guide deals with the first type - provincial violation tickets. Trials of these tickets
are usually conducted by Judicial Justices (also called “justices”) in what is often called
“Traffic Court”, although other provincial offences are dealt with there.
So when the Guide refers to a “ticket” it means a provincial violation ticket, including
both traffic tickets and tickets issued under other provincial laws.
When the Guide refers to an “officer” it includes a police officer and bylaw or other
enforcement officer.
You’ll find explanations of other words used in the Guide in the Definitions section at
the end.
The Guide is intended to answer common questions about provincial violation ticket
procedures and offer information on how to prepare for and conduct a trial. It does not
provide legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for advice from a lawyer.
For information on the other types of tickets, see Federal Contravention Tickets,
Municipal Ticket Informations, and Traffic, Ticket and Bylaw Cases.
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How do I dispute my ticket?
Check the ticket for instructions on how to dispute it. You must register your dispute
within thirty days of getting your ticket. (For a Municipal Ticket Information you may
only have 14 days to register your dispute.)
There are several ways to register a dispute:
In person at any driver licensing office. Be sure to bring your ticket with you.
In person at any B.C. Provincial Court registry. You will need to bring your ticket,
and also fill out a Notice of Dispute form. Get the Notice of Dispute form online or
at the registry itself.
Mail a copy of your ticket with a letter stating whether you are disputing the
offence or the fine amount to:
Ticket Dispute Processing
Bag #3510
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3P7
Be careful to fill out your mailing address completely on the Notice of Dispute so that
you can be notified of the trial date by mail. For example, don’t forget your box number,
apartment number and postal code.
After your Dispute is registered, you will receive a Notice of Hearing in the mail. It may
be several months before you receive the Notice of Hearing.
The Notice of Hearing tells you the date that you are to come to court for your trial (also
called a “hearing”’). This is the day you come to court prepared to hear the officer
present their case and prepared to present your case to the court. If you want your
hearing to be conducted in French, notify the Violation Ticket Centre immediately upon
receipt of the Notice of Hearing.
On the Notice of Dispute you can request an interpreter at no cost to you. The
interpreter may attend your hearing in person or by telephone. If English is your second
language, consider that you might be nervous on the hearing date and there may be
legal terms used that are new to you in English. Having an interpreter may help you
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understand what goes on in court and help the judicial justice conducting your hearing
to understand you.
What if I only want to dispute the fine?
If you agree that you committed the offence, but just want to ask for a lower fine than
the one shown on your ticket, or extra time to pay the fine, you must first register a
Notice of Dispute.
You can note what you’re asking for on the Notice of Dispute, and then dispute the fine
amount either:
in person at any B.C. Provincial Court registry, or
by filling out and mailing in a second form called the Violation Ticket Statement
and Written Reasons. Complete that form, explaining the reasons you’re asking
for a lower fine. Send this form to the Ticket Dispute Processing address shown
above, as soon as you can to avoid a date being set for a hearing.
You may also ask for more time to pay your fine. If you don’t ask for time to pay, the
fine will be due immediately.
A justice will review your reasons and make a decision. You will not have to come to
court if you fill out and send in this form. Explain thoroughly why you are asking for a
reduced fine and time to pay. Understand that:
A justice cannot reduce penalty points. These are set by regulations.
A justice cannot consider reducing the fine unless you admit to being guilty or
you are found guilty after a hearing.
There are some fines that a justice cannot reduce below a minimum amount set
by law. However, they can always give you ‘time to pay’ if you explain why you
need more time. If you don’t ask for time, a fine must be paid immediately.
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What if I want a lawyer to conduct my
hearing?
If you want a lawyer to represent you at your hearing, you should hire a lawyer by the
time that you send in your Notice of Dispute. The lawyer’s schedule will have to be
considered when a date is set for your hearing and many lawyers are not available on
short notice.
If you hire a lawyer they will generally give the Violation Ticket Center dates when they
are available for your hearing.
What happens if I move before I get my
Notice of Hearing?
If you change your address after you filed the Notice of Dispute and before you get the
Notice of Hearing, complete a Change of Address form and send it to the Violation Ticket
Centre at the address on the form. Changing your address with ICBC and the Motor Vehicle
Branch is not enough. If you change your address after getting the Notice of Hearing, send
the form to the Violation Ticket Centre and to the court.
What if I can’t come to court on the date of
the hearing?
When you get your Notice of Hearing, check the date right away. If it is on a date that
you are already scheduled to be somewhere else and you cannot easily change the
other matter, you have the right to ask for a different hearing date.
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Last minute requests may not succeed. Complete and send in an Application to Adjourn
a Hearing as soon as you can. Explain in detail on the form why you are unable to come
to court on the scheduled date.
Be thorough and attach copies of any supporting documents that you have: for
example, your trip itinerary, hotel reservations, written invitation, appointment
card or doctor’s letter.
If you book a flight after you receive your Notice of Hearing, explain why you
didn’t put your court date first. If you don’t explain you may not get a new court
date.
If your case is moved to a different date, it may be several months before your
next hearing date.
If you do not come to court on the date on the Notice of Hearing and if you have
not been given a new court date, your ticket will be treated as if you did not
dispute it.
Can someone else go to court for me?
You must come to court yourself if you want the justice conducting the hearing to
consider your side of the story. You cannot usually send in a written statement, nor can
you send someone else to tell your side of things by testifying on your behalf (unless
that person was a witness present when the incident happened). It is best to attend
yourself.
However, you can send another person to court to ask for a different hearing date if you
have suddenly become unavailable and did not have time to send in the Application to
Adjourn.
Also, another person may be able to come to court for you to ask questions of the
officer and make legal arguments in the hearing (with the permission of the judicial
justice), but that person cannot tell your side of the story if you are not at court and
they did not witness the incident.
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What should I do to get ready for the
hearing?
If you haven’t already done so, write notes about what happened. The best time to do
that is right after the incident that resulted in the ticket. If you didn’t do that, write out
all you remember happening, and make notes of the points you want to make at your
hearing. You may be questioned (cross-examined) about your notes if you refer to them
while testifying.
Find out exactly what you’re charged with. The ticket will show an offence. Look up the
offence online and read the statute section – it tells you what the evidence must prove
for you to be found guilty at your hearing.
Motor Vehicle Act:
http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/consol17/consol17/96318_00
BC Acts in alphabetical order:
http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/content/complete/statreg/?xsl=/templates/browse.xsl
Canada’s federal laws:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/
Make copies of any photos, maps or other documents that you wish the justice to
consider. It’s best to bring three copies, but one will do if you can’t get three.
You should find out what the officer will say in court and prepare questions you may
want to ask them.
If you intend to ask the Provincial Court to consider dismissing your ticket for a violation
of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a judicial justice will not hear your case. Instead,
it will be heard by a Provincial Court Judge. Tell the Court Registry as soon as you know
that you wish to raise a Charter issue, so your hearing can be scheduled without added
delay. You may also wish to read the Constitutional Question Act.
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How can I find out what information the
officer will bring to court?
You are entitled to know what the officer will say in court.
You do not need to make a Freedom of Information request to get this information. You
can send a letter to the officer asking for a copy of all the information they have about
the incident that resulted in the ticket, and the witnesses they intend to present in court
(“the witnesses they intend to call”). Do this right after you send in your Notice of
Dispute.
The ticket will show the officer’s name, number, organization and location. Send your
request to the officer, not to the Violation Ticket Center or the court.
Although not a complete list, some of the information that you are entitled to receive
includes:
A copy of the officer’s notes and a typed version if you can’t read the notes or
they use abbreviations you don’t understand
Witness statements or a summary of the witness’ statement
A summary of what the officer states you said
A copy of any video or audio evidence relating to the incident that resulted in
the ticket
Date and keep a copy of the letter you send and if there is no response send another
letter. If you don’t get the information from the officer bring those letters with you to
court to show the justice at the beginning of the hearing.
What should I do when I come to court for
the hearing?
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Come to court at least 30 minutes early. Allow plenty of time to travel to court and find
parking. The officer will often be there early and may offer to talk to you. If you did not
ask for information from the officer before the hearing, the officer can tell you the
information they have about the incident and the witnesses they intend to call.
Many other hearings will be scheduled at the same time as your hearing. Be prepared to
wait, sometimes for up to two to three hours. Although this is inconvenient, you can
learn about procedure by watching other hearings. Unfortunately, the Provincial Court
can’t provide more specific times for hearings because it can’t predict how many of the
matters set for hearing will proceed.
Dress comfortably and respectfully - no short shorts, no tank tops, bare midriffs,
or bare feet, no hats (except for religious headwear) and no clothing with
disrespectful slogans or pictures.
Do not bring food or drinks into the court room, and do not chew gum in the
court room.
Try to get a babysitter - if not, bring someone else to sit with your children during
your hearing. If you do bring your children and have no one to help you with
them, bring activities to keep them occupied during your hearing so that you
won’t be distracted by them.
Turn your cell phone off for the entire time that you are in the courtroom. If you
need your phone during the hearing, ask permission to use it.
Take paper and a pen so you can take notes during the hearing. You may not use
an electronic device to record, receive or transmit in the courtroom.
What if the officer doesn’t attend court for
the hearing?
The officer might send someone to ask to put the hearing off (“ask for an
adjournment”). If so, they’ll explain why the officer couldn’t attend and why the case
should be put off. You’ll have a chance to tell the justice why it shouldn’t be put off. You
can explain any inconvenience or expense that putting it off might cause you and give
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any other reasons you have for opposing an adjournment. The justice will decide
whether to adjourn your case to another day.
If the officer doesn’t attend and a request to adjourn your hearing is refused or no one
attends to make that request, the justice may decide whether or not to dismiss the
matter.
What happens at the hearing?
When your name is called come to the front and stand to the left of the table at the
front.
The person who is judging the matter is a judicial justice - the proper way to address
them is “Your Worship”. You should stand when you are speaking to the justice or
when they are speaking to you. Do not interrupt the justice when they are speaking –
there are certain things they must explain to you.
The justice will read the charge to you and ask for your plea. If you agree that you
committed the offence and want to ask for a fine reduction, you plead guilty. If you
want to dispute the charge, you plead not guilty.
If you plead guilty
The procedure is the same as if you are found guilty, described below.
If you plead not guilty
If you plead not guilty, the hearing will start.
The justice will explain the procedure to you, and you can ask them questions about
anything that you do not understand, but they cannot give you legal advice. To get legal
advice, talk to a lawyer well before your hearing.
The evidence against you
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The officer will present their case first. Usually, the officer will swear an oath to tell the
truth or make a solemn affirmation, and then tell the justice about what they saw and
why they gave you the ticket. Sometimes a police officer may appear by telephone
rather than in person.
The officer may call additional witnesses to describe what happened.
The reason the officer goes first is that you are presumed to be innocent and they must
prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If they provide no evidence or not enough
evidence in the hearing, you will be found not guilty.
Cross Examination
You have the right to “cross-examine” – to ask questions of the officer and any
witnesses they call after they have finished telling the justice everything they have to
say.
You can prepare before the hearing by writing out questions you think you may want to
ask. Those questions might be designed to bring out facts that:
Clarify the evidence
Support your case
Test witness’ observations, recollections and truthfulness
Show the witness may be biased
Show that the witness previously said something significantly different from their
testimony in court. (Ask the justice if you may show the witness something they
wrote. If given permission, read out the portion that contradicts their testimony
and ask the witness if they wrote it.)
Put your version of the facts to them. (“There were two cars ahead of me,
weren’t there?” or “I stopped at the stop sign, didn’t I?”)
During the witness’ testimony, take notes of points you might want to question them
about.
Tips for effective cross-examination
• Be brief
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• Short questions, plain words
• Only one question at a time
• Don't argue with the witness. Remember you may only ask questions while
cross-examining – you tell your side when you testify
• Don't ask the witness to repeat testimony they gave earlier
• Don’t comment on the witness’ answers. You can do that when you sum up at
the end of the hearing
A “mini-hearing” about anything you said to the officer
The officer may wish to tell the justice something they state you said to them. Because
a police or enforcement officer is a person in authority, they must prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that when you spoke to them, you spoke voluntarily.
This means the officer must convince the justice that they did nothing by word, act or
gesture that made you think things would go better for you if you spoke to the officer or
things could go worse if you didn’t speak to them.
If you agree that you spoke voluntarily to the officer no mini-hearing is necessary, and
the officer will tell the justice what they believe you said.
If you do not believe you spoke voluntarily or wish the officer to attempt to prove it, the
justice will conduct a mini-hearing to determine if the officer can prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that you spoke voluntarily. The legal term for this mini-hearing is a
Latin term: “voir dire”. You are entitled to be a witness in the mini-hearing and tell the
justice about what you saw and heard the officer say and do and how that made you
feel.
If voluntariness is proven, what the officer states you said will be part of the evidence
for the justice to consider in the hearing on your ticket.
If voluntariness is not proven, the justice will ignore all the testimony in the mini-
hearing, including everything the police officer states that you said. The evidence in the
mini-hearing will not become evidence in the trial.
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Your evidence
When the officer’s case is finished you must decide whether you wish to testify yourself
and/or present witnesses.
You do not have to present (“call”) witnesses or be a witness yourself because you are
presumed to be innocent. If you do testify or call witnesses, the officer can question
(cross-examine) you and your witnesses and try to undermine your case the same way
that you were able to question the officer and their witnesses.
However, being a witness yourself or calling other people as witnesses is the only way
the justice can consider your side of the story. You must decide for yourself whether to
testify and/or present witnesses.
Witnesses must come to court. A justice will not usually consider letters or written
statements as evidence in the hearing. A subpoena is a court order that requires a
person to attend court. You can obtain a subpoena at the Court Registry to compel your
witnesses to come to court and provide them with a document to show their employer.
If you want the justice to consider photos, please print them to give to the court. Three
copies are ideal, but one copy will do. You should show the photos to the officer when
you question them during their testimony. Ask them questions to identify what the
photos show.
Summing up
After all the witnesses have been questioned you have the right to summarize the case
and point out to the justice the weaknesses in the officer’s case. The officer may do this
as well about the strength of their case or the weaknesses in your case.
The decision
The justice must decide what facts have been proven by the evidence presented in the
hearing and apply the law to those facts.
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Usually, the justice will decide your case immediately after you have you have
summarized the case. If the officer has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that you
committed the offence, you will be found guilty. If not, you will be found not guilty.
Penalties
If you are found not guilty that is the end of the matter and no fine or penalty points will
be imposed.
If you are found guilty, the justice will then decide on the appropriate penalty. It’s
important to know that:
You may ask for a lower fine at this point. For some offences, a justice can impose a
fine lower than the one shown on your ticket. You should explain why the
circumstances of the offence and your circumstances justify a lower fine.
There are some fines that a justice cannot reduce because they have mandatory
minimum fines set by law.
However, a justice may give you time to pay if you explain why you need it. If you do
not ask for time to pay, your fine must be paid immediately.
A justice cannot reduce any penalty points. Points are set by regulations.
It is only at this time that the officer can tell the justice about your driving or other
record relevant to your offence, if you have one. (Your record can’t be mentioned
during the hearing, but it can be used to support a higher penalty after a finding of
guilt.)
In some cases, the justice may also decide that a prohibition from driving should be
imposed. This may happen if you have a significant driving record and/or the facts of
the case show that you made very dangerous driving decisions. If losing your driver’s
licence would affect your employment you might want to ask the justice to give you
time to consult or hire a lawyer to speak for you on this issue.
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Throughout your court appearance, don’t be afraid to ask the justice to explain
anything you don’t understand.
Definitions
These are simple explanations of words as they are used in this guide.
Affirmation - a solemn promise to tell the truth without reference to religious belief. It
has the same legal significance as a sworn oath
Cross examine - to question a witness after they testify in direct examination
Evidence - witnesses’ testimony and paper documents, photographs, etc. that are
admitted as evidence by the justice or judge and marked as exhibits
Hearing - also sometimes called a trial - a proceeding in court where evidence is
presented to a justice or a judge, who makes a decision based on the facts proven by
the evidence and the law that applies
Oath - a solemn promise to tell the truth, sworn on a holy book
Testify - to tell the judge the facts after swearing or affirming to tell the truth
Testimony - oral (spoken) evidence given under oath or affirmation
Voir Dire – a mini-hearing held to decide a legal issue, for example, whether something
a person said to an officer can be admitted as evidence in their hearing
More information
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Provincial Violation Tickets
Federal Contravention Tickets
Municipal Ticket Informations
Court Services Online - look up your ticket by name or number and see the hearing
date, time, location, and outcome
Provincial Violation Ticket Forms - available online or at a Provincial Court registry or
Services BC office
Laws
BC Laws
BC Regulations
BC Motor Vehicle Act
BC Violation Ticket Administration and Fines Regulation
