Filenews 3 May 2025 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
The registration of criminal files in the Courts for unpaid extrajudicial offences by the Traffic Police cameras begins immediately, with the only loophole that exists so that someone is not found in the dock being another driver.
From next week, the Traffic Police is proceeding with the separation of the cases pending since the beginning of the implementation of the photolabeling system, namely in January 2022, as well as those who have since avoided receiving their out-of-court documents with various tricks.
As the director of the Traffic Department at the Police Headquarters, Harris Evripidou, explained to "F", the procedure that will be followed is the following: The company that manages the photolabeling system will send the file with the details of each violation to the Traffic Police, it will be checked and then transmitted to the Police Prosecutor's Office for the registration of an indictment in the Court.
Then, as soon as the case is registered, a summons will be issued to the affected person which will be served through a judicial grantee. As Mr. Evripidou explained, when someone receives the call and finds out that it was not this driver, he has the right to submit an objection and together with the other driver to submit a solemn declaration. Then the other driver will be given the opportunity to pay the out-of-court fee and thus the case will be withdrawn from the Court.
Responding to an observation that some people may take advantage of this "loophole", the director of the Traffic Police said that the photos will be checked, so that, for example, a male driver is not reported and a woman is indicated or vice versa. The Traffic Police officer clarified that if someone has more than one out-of-court unpaid payment, then separate cases will be registered.
At the same time, he mentioned that the public information platform remains open for someone who wants to pay his out-of-pocket fee and explained that if a case is taken to court, it will be removed from the system and will no longer appear on the platform. Mr. Euripides pointed out that the penalties imposed by the Courts in the cases that have already been brought are 5 times higher than the fine provided for if it were paid out of court.
It is noted that of the 250,000 fines that were pending last January, 80,000 have been paid. Therefore, another 170,000 remain unpaid.
