forelegg - ingen melding (Tourist - english msg!)

[nldutchy]

Hey everyone,

Thank you in advance for reading my post, and apologies for not writing in Norwegian. I am Dutch and don't speak a word norwegian! :)

 

Anyhow, please allow me to explain the situation. 

While visiting tromso, i got pulled over for speeding by the police. I drove 30km/h too fast, lost my driverslicence, and had to report at the station to sign a forelegg: 2 month suspension from driving and 16 days jail or 7000NOK fine. I wanted to consult a Dutch lawyer and they gave me three days to email ([email protected]) the forelegg back signed and all. This is the last i've heard of it... I mailed them the forelegg and never received anything. My drivers licence came back within 3 weeks via the Dutch officials (not the police), with a letter saying they got my drivers licence mailed and assumed i lost it somewhere. Furthermore there is no record of me speeding in Norway anywhere in the Dutch system.

 

I love, and i really mean, LOVE, Norway, and would like nothing more than to revisit Norway. But I am terrified I am flagged as a fled criminal and will end up going to jail if I ever check in at the airport. I also don't wanna call the Tromso Police and ask whats up, because I might be forgotten and this would stir the pot so to say.

So, long story short, I have one simple question: Is there an expiry date on Norwegian offences? Keep in mind 30km/h is a serious offence in your country. Does anyone know how long it will take for me to no longer have that violation registered to my name? 

 

And I know, if i love Norway so much; pay the fine and i am welcome again. However that fine is more than 2 months of salary for me, so if I can avoid paying that fine it'd mean I'll be able to save that money for my next trip to Norway!

 

Thank you all for reading this, and I hope i'll get some advice. And yet again sorry for posting this in English. I am trying to learn Norwegian but it's a hard process ;) Takk!

 

[AnonymBruker]

If you drive that fast, you don’t need to come back. Bye bye! 

Anonymkode: 2fe2b...c31

[AnonymBruker]

10 minutter siden, nldutchy skrev:

Does anyone know how long it will take for me to no longer have that violation registered to my name? 

Ask the Police in Norway.

Anonymkode: 0dd1b...3db

[AnonymBruker]

10 years 

Anonymkode: fe04e...156

[AnonymBruker]

Honestly, the easiest way to get your question answered right is one of the following:

- Contact a norwegian lawyer that works with criminal law (or have your dutch lawyer do it)

- Send an e-mail to the police in a fake name/ from a fake e-mail account and ask it as a general question

Don't believe any advice you get here regarding your question. 

(and for the record; I'm a legal advisor as a profession, but not criminal law, andI wouldn't dare try to give you a "correct" answer on this..)

 

Anonymkode: ca76d...3ad

[AnonymBruker]

https://lovdata.no/artikkel/ny_straffelov_-_reglene_om_foreldelse/1559

Ilagt bot faller bort 10 år etter at forelegget eller dommen blir endelig, jf. § 97.

Anonymkode: fe04e...156

[AnonymBruker]

If you got your driverlicense back in the mail I think its safe to say that you still got it. Probably you were speeddriving in a zone that were temporarily set down to 50km/h? Sometimes they forget to apply for the change of speedlimit, and then the speedcontrol/fine you you is not legal for the police. So sorry for my bad english 😂

Anonymkode: 6dac7...a9b

[nldutchy]

Thank you to everyone replying! Especially the bye bye comment, very usefull...

And no need to apologize, your English is still so much better than my Norwegian! 

Unfortunately, it was no temporary set limit. It was a backroad somewhere in the troms region, where te limit was lowered from 80km/h to 60 due to a house being at the road. It was 03:30 and we were out to search for some northern lights. 

I have a vague idea that it was too complicated for the officer, so they just disregarded the case. That would explain why i got my drivers licence back via the dutch "lost-and-found services" instead of the police. But i am just afraid if i straight up call them, they will look into it, and send the fine to me after all. But yeah, perhaps I should hire a Norwegian lawyer for that. Dutch lawyers are useless, i tried that already unfortunately  

Again, thank you all so much! Really helping me out here

[AnonymBruker]

I think it’s ten years. However, I do not think you will have any troubles at any Norwegian airports, it just seems unlikely to me. 

Furthermore, you could probably contact the police with these questions without worrying to much. 

Also - tourists speeding our vulnerable, narrow roads are a big problem every summer. If you want to travel here, please respect our rules. Don’t pass the speed limit, don’t lay to close to the car in front of you, and please, please don’t pass any cars in your lane if the road ahead isn’t absolutely obviously free. 

Good luck. 

Anonymkode: e3cab...86b

[AnonymBruker]

And let me add: if you contact the police and they look into it and send you the fine afterall, it honestly is what you deserve. 

Anonymkode: e3cab...86b

[nldutchy]

1 minutt siden, AnonymBruker said:

please respect our rules

Very aware, and very sorry for my offence. I am an ambulance driver here in the Netherlands and I never speed. It was a corner, it was midnight. Road was perfectly clear, no one in sight. In the corner a sign reading 60 was placed but my satnav still said 80, so i let the car roll out as i came out the corner (braking in corners is not-done here in NL). 

Even the police officer admitted that the specific stretch was just lowered in speed and that they were pulling over many offenders. 

I am not excusing myself, I understand fully that i was in the wrong. However, for what it's worth, I would say i was somewhat driving safely at that speed. But still, i was exceeding the limit which is inexcusable. As such, I would have paid any reasonable fine. But like i said, it is just extremely high compared to what I earn...

[AnonymBruker]

5 minutter siden, nldutchy skrev:

Thank you to everyone replying! Especially the bye bye comment, very usefull...

And no need to apologize, your English is still so much better than my Norwegian! 

Unfortunately, it was no temporary set limit. It was a backroad somewhere in the troms region, where te limit was lowered from 80km/h to 60 due to a house being at the road. It was 03:30 and we were out to search for some northern lights. 

I have a vague idea that it was too complicated for the officer, so they just disregarded the case. That would explain why i got my drivers licence back via the dutch "lost-and-found services" instead of the police. But i am just afraid if i straight up call them, they will look into it, and send the fine to me after all. But yeah, perhaps I should hire a Norwegian lawyer for that. Dutch lawyers are useless, i tried that already unfortunately  

Again, thank you all so much! Really helping me out here

You broke the law. I really hope they send you the fine. And if It is 03.30, you still have to follow the speed limit. 

Anonymkode: 2fe2b...c31

[moho]

This must have been a while ago as you were searching for the northern lights? 

In 2014 they said this about foreign drivers in norway, try Google translate

https://www.nrk.no/nordland/utenlandske-sjaforer-skylder-220-millioner-kroner-1.12028759

 

[accobra]

1 time siden, nldutchy skrev:

And I know, if i love Norway so much; pay the fine and i am welcome again. However that fine is more than 2 months of salary for me, so if I can avoid paying that fine it'd mean I'll be able to save that money for my next trip to Norway!

Hope you will return anyhow.

Or if you would like someone else to pay the fine, just say so

[AnonymBruker]

If you sent it back to that email-adress that might be the reason why you never heard anything. Theres is a "t" missing off the end of the word "politiet".

As to your other questions, I don´t know, other than Norwegian police being extremely under staffed, and this (you not sending in the forelegg, and then returning to Norway and driving here at a later time) being one of many things that they do not have the resources to follow up on. So, if I were you, I wouldn`t stop coming to Norway in the future in fear that I was wanted for a speeding offence, because the chance that that would be discovered would be slim, and if it was, i cant see the consecquence being any worse than the actual consequense your supposed to be facing now - if any consequence at all. 

Anonymkode: 19a7b...a5c

[AnonymBruker]

An ambulance driver in the Netherlands averages on 384k norwegian kroners, meaning that if 7k nok is "more than two months salary" you either work waaaay too little or you're just cheap. Working in a hotel in tromso I'd guess you're too cheap. #howdutchofyou

Anonymkode: af73c...b33

[nldutchy]

3 minutter siden, AnonymBruker said:

384k norwegian kroners

At a fulltime gig you might get about 200K kroners, but that's it. Still in college and driving a transplant car in the off hours. All the income i have. Never claimed to be a fulltime grownup, hence why it's such a large amount of money to me. 

33 minutter siden, AnonymBruker said:

If you sent it back to that email-adress that might be the reason why you never heard anything. Theres is a "t" missing off the end of the word "politiet".

 

I've send it to the correct (general) address found on the tromso police website, didnt recall it fully, but thanks for the pointer! And perhaps i'd just risk it, but I think ill send some inquiries to some tromso lawyers to see how much they'd charge to give me some advice on this all. Thanks everyone!

[Elán]

I don't think you will get stopped at airport if you travel to Norway, but if your car gets stopped again you will be found in the system. I would, if I were you, find a way to pay the fine. 

Not sure if it will work, but you could also ask the police for a payment plan to devide the total amount of the fine for how much money you are able to pay for a certain amount of months, for example 1000 NOK/month for 7 months? I think it will be viewed more positive to ask questions about it, it shows you are sorry for your actions and you take responsibility for them. I have heard of people getting fines and had this sort of payment plan. 

Good luck!

[AnonymBruker]

Don’t spend money on a lawyer, you’ll easily spend more on the lawyer than you would just paying your very well-deserved fine! Just call the police already. Pay the fine, and you don’t have to be nervous for the next 10+ years when you go to Norway.

Anonymkode: 2e48a...aa6

[AnonymBruker]

There is a high probability that the fine will be sent
 to the German authorities and they will deposit the debt.

Anonymkode: 61b97...97f