Do Not Ignore Summons Issued By Local Council

I Told You So – I Was Right For Advising Drivers Issued With Summons By Local Councils Not To Ignore Them

Even before the week was over, mini market trader, Subramaniam Gopal of Lancang, Pahang, was recharged in Temerloh on 4 charges again for conducting his business without a license.

He was again given a discharge, not amounting to an acquittal. This led Suhakam’s chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Talib Othman, and a former Attorney General to conclude, “It appears to be a harassment of this man”.

When the first newspaper reported this landmark case the week before, it was suggested, driver issued with summonses by local authorities all over the nation could ignore and begin to throw away summons by local council, for example Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam (MPSA) and other local authorities all over the country.

Fearing some unwarranted repercussions might occur if many drivers were to take the above advice seriously, I advised drivers to hold on to their summonses a little wee longer to see how the situation would unfold.

I even went a step further as to advise that existing summonses be settled rather than to be thrown away.

Hundreds, if not thousands of summonses have already been issued and paid up, under the Local Authorities Act since its inception way back in the 1950s or 60s.

The local council or the government, is not going to sit back and accept Judicial Commissioner Akhtar Tahir’s judgement that that he agreed with trade Subramanaim Gopal’s contention that Section 120 of the Local Council Act was unconstitutional.

What would have happened if a driver had thrown away his summons?

Well, it would have caused some unwanted problems to the driver himself at least.

First, the driver would have to take a day’s leave and visit the offices of the issuing authorities to get another copy of the summons involved. The above would have taken some time and certainly a lot of hassle.

Remember, under the Local Council Act, a local authority can take legal action against a driver for ignoring summons issued against them.

As mentioned earlier, the local authorities are not ready to have the act challenged by someone so easily.

Three days after trader Subramaniam’s release, the Lanchang Municipal Council had already issued fresh summons for the same offences Subramaniam was said to have committed.

As we await, the results of the latest court action by the Lanchang Municipal authorities , drivers are once again advised to quickly settle the summons they are holding on to.

Do not forget, there is a time limit for you to settle your summons. After that, you could end up being hauled to court.

Holding on to your summons without paying it will create tension and worry in you. Human beings are such that they tend to worry over things they haven’t done, which in fact they should have done.

Is a small amount of money such as a simple summons worth all the above worry?

I believe not.

Do think about it carefully. Go settle your summons immediately. Tomorrow, if you can. Be a good and responsible driver.

Many examples have shown the local government eventually will succeed in whatever court case they bring up to the courts of law. That is the situation in the country today.

Whether you like it or not, the Local Council Act is here to stay. And for a long, long while yet.

And in final reminder to driver, Penang state local government and traffic management committee chairman, Chow Kon Yeow said, “responsible citizen should either acknowledge their fault by settling the fine, or if one is not satisfied, they can make an appeal or fight it out in court”.

By | 2012-09-22T09:53:00+08:00 February 13th, 2010|Driving In Malaysia|8 Comments

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8 Comments

  1. Cris March 4, 2012 at 6:53 pm - Reply

    Hi,
    I have got DBKL summon for parking in wrong place, I was not aware that there is signal near, DBKL people has put summon under Sec 79(2) as parking at signal/crossing the red light.

    I will pay this summon before the expiry date, but there is no amount mentioned in summon. How to pay & is there any online payment option?
    Normally how much will be the fine?

    Last thing, will this summon cost me the demerit points? I am ‘ P’ license holder. What should I do, please suggest.

    Thanks in advance for your suggestions & help.

    • Cikgu Yap March 5, 2012 at 11:54 pm - Reply

      Consult DBKL. Normally such fines are RM75- RM100. It is believe no demerit points are given. Be careful next time.

  2. Geraldine Yeoh May 18, 2012 at 11:32 am - Reply

    Dear Cikgu Yap,

    My apartment has no enough parking lots even though we did try to rent from maintenance office. For last 3 years, there is no police come to disturb us. Unfortunately, recently we received the police summon quite frequently (Averagely once a month). The policemen like to come at night and gave summon to resident.

    Is there any way for us to appeal as my department not located at main road? Can we get any discount if we pay the compound?

    Thank you very much.

    • Cikgu Yap May 21, 2012 at 10:52 am - Reply

      No harm asking the police authorities regarding discount. They might well give you one.

  3. Langley January 20, 2016 at 6:34 pm - Reply

    I have more than 10 local council summons, but I never once paid them. Each would cost around RM250-300 I think, as my offence is as usual, parking without coupons.

    I don’t plan to pay though. I have been ignoring the summons since 2011 when I first got my driving license until now, but nothing has ever happened to me. My roadtaxes are still being issued without a single problem, and I’m still doing well.

    Now, you may start thinking that I love to break the law and whatnots, but the reason why I don’t use the coupons is because the ticketing machine is far away from where I parked, and it is a very deserted place. I’m a single lady and I wouldn’t fancy bad things happening on me now, would I?

    That’s the problem living in this country. Public transportations are expensive and inconvenient, plus they have largely been dominated by the ‘foreigners’ anyway. When I decided to drive to avoid the inconveniences and expenses of taking a cab to the train station only to pay big bucks for a train fare, I have to pay expensive tolls. Nevermind, their grandsons have to be fed. Again, I decided to park at public parking spots because the parking charges in the malls and centres are crazy. This is KL and do they seriously think their lands are worth as much as the lands in SG, HK, New York, London? Come on, the country is not even developed for laughing out loud!

    So, I decided to park at the public spots, like I’d just mentioned. Now, the ticketing machine is placed so far away and in a deserted area. Are they trying to feed the uneducated lazy trashes, making sure they make a living by robbing us? I don’t wish to get murdered or mugged, so I decided to park my car in the right box. Now I get summoned. This is a real piece of jumbled shit.

    I’m going to study real hard and get my bum out of here. I can’t stand living in a place where the officers get around summoning drivers rather than catching criminals.

    • Cikgu Yap January 29, 2016 at 9:54 am - Reply

      I really sympathise with your problem. The danger you face are indeed real and it looks as if the problems you face seem insurmountable. However, you could take the initiative to talk to the local council to see if any solution can be found. The summons may not be as high as you imagine.

      Regarding your decision to better youself, I wish you all the best and good luck to you.

  4. Tun Dr Foo Kok Yong June 18, 2019 at 11:48 pm - Reply

    In fact they are not summons. They are NOTICE to inform you, you have an traffic offence. You can offer a compound or wait to be sue in court.

    • Cikgu Yap June 20, 2019 at 10:08 pm - Reply

      Your advice to this blog regarding “police” summons is most enlightening. Many thanks.

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