Types of fines

Traffic offences

One of the most common reasons you may get a fine is for committing a traffic offence, for example:

• speeding
• using a mobile phone while driving
• not wearing a seat belt
• not indicating when turning a corner
• stopping within ten metres of an intersection
• driving an unregistered car
• driving through a red light.

NSW Police or Transport for NSW (TfNSW) can give fines for traffic offences. TfNSW will issue fines when an offence is detected by a red-light camera or speed camera.

Many traffic offences have a fine and demerit point penalty. If you reach your demerit point limit, your licence will be suspended. For more information, see Demerit point suspension.

Your licence can also be suspended if you commit certain speeding and major traffic offences, like driving more than 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit. For more information, see Speeding and On-the-spot suspensions.

​If you get a fine for low range drink driving and it's your first offence, police can suspend your licence straight away. Police can also suspend your license if you are a driver who must not have any alcohol in your system, such as L plate or P plate drivers (this is called a "novice range" drink driving offence) or other drivers who are required to have no alcohol who are not novice drivers such as tax drivers, bus drivers or truck drivers (this is called a "special range" drink driving offence).

If you get a notice of suspension, or if your licence has been suspended, you may be able to appeal or avoid the suspension. You should act quickly because time limits apply. For more information, see Appeal your licence suspension.

For more serious traffic offences, you may be given a Court Attendance Notice (CAN). If you get a Court Attendance Notice you will need  to go to court. The court will decide whether to give you a fine and disqualify your licence. For more information, see Going to court.

Public transport offences

You can get a fine for offences committed on public transport, such as:

• taking a train without a ticket
• putting your feet on seats
• littering on a train
• smoking on a train or in covered or inside areas of a train station
• damaging or vandalising a train.

Transport Officers or NSW Police can fine people on public transport.

Fines for public transport offences are also called 'penalty notices' or 'infringement notices'.

Local council fines

Local Councils also have the power to fine you for some offences, such as:

• parking offences
• not cleaning up after your dog
• wasting water
• damaging public property
• illegal rubbish dumping and pollution
• continual barking by your dog
• not having your pet properly registered (for more information, see our page on Animals).

Parking offences

If you are issued a parking fine, it must be attached it to your vehicle, unless:

• the vehicle has been moved
• it is not safe to do so
• the fine was issued in a clearly marked 'paperless fine zone'

• the vehicle is a "heavy vehicle" or trailer according to the law in NSW
• another legal exception applies. These can be found in the Fines Regulations.

If the fine can’t be attached to your vehicle, the issuing officer must send it to you within seven days of the date of the offence.

The issuing officer must take a photo showing the parking offence you are alleged to have committed and a photo of the fine attached to your vehicle unless:

• it is not safe to take the images
• it is not possible due to the fault of the camera used
• a person is in the vehicle at the time

If the issuing officer has taken a photo of the alleged offence, you can contact Revenue NSW for a copy. 

If you get two fines within seven days for the same offence, you may be able to challenge the second one. This will only be possible if:

• you have already got a fine, and

• both offences involved the same vehicle in the same street or carpark, and

• The first fine was not attached to your vehicle for the first parking offence.

A parking fine is not valid if the issuing officer didn’t:

• attach it to your vehicle, and

• take a photo showing the parking offence, and

• have a valid reason not to attach the fine to your car.

A parking fine must clearly tell you:

• the type of parking offence

• the date, time and place of the offence

• the registration number of the vehicle involved in the offence,

• that you don't need to pay until after you get a penalty notice for the offence.

   

Other offences

The police can also give fines for minor criminal offences, for example, shoplifting and offensive behaviour. This type of fine is called a Criminal Infringement Notice (CIN).

Some government agencies also have the power to give fines, for example:

• NSW Fisheries has the power to fine you for fishing without a licence

• the NSW Food Authority has the power to fine you for not complying with health regulations when serving food

   

Non-payment of a toll notice

If you drive on a toll road and don’t pay the toll, the person who has registered the vehicle will be sent a toll notice. This includes the toll fee and an administration charge. This is not a fine.

If you get a toll notice, you can:

• pay the toll,
• object to the toll or
• complete a statutory declaration to report that someone else was driving your car at the time.

For more information, see the Sydney Motorways website.

If you don’t respond to the toll notice, you may then be sent a fine. This fine is for the offence of non-payment of a toll. You can use the information in this topic to respond to this fine. ​

Private fines

A private fine is not a fine, but rather a claim for a debt. Private fines can't be enforced by Revenue NSW.

One type of organisation that regularly issues private fines are private car parks.

You might be fined in a private car park for a number of reasons, for example, fo parking too long or not paying a fee.

Other common private fines include fees for overdue videos or library books.

If you don’t pay the fine, the organisation may bring a claim against you in the Small Claims Division of the Local Court to recover the debt.

To be successful against you, they would have to prove that:

• you made a contract with the organisation
• you breached that contract (that is, you did not follow the terms of that contract).

For more information about responding to claims in the Small Claims Division of the Local Court, see Responding to a claim.

If you are disputing a fine from a private organisation, you should get legal advice.