Driver fined $1,250 for fleeing accident she wasn't involved in

A NSW driver is fighting back after she claims she copped two fines totalling $1,251 for a car accident she wasn’t involved in.

The alleged hit-and-run occurred in the western Sydney suburb of Schofields — two and a half hours away from Vicki Forrest’s Newcastle home and the pub where she vows she was with friends on the Friday night in question.

“Two police officers turned up at my door one night and said I was involved in a motor vehicle accident and fled the scene,” she told A Current Affair on Tuesday.

She said the cops identified her and evaluated her car for damage, but didn’t find any. After denying that she had been involved in an accident or leant anyone else her vehicle, Ms Forrest said the police officers assured her there was nothing to worry about.

“He said ‘look you won’t hear anything now Vicki’, he said ‘these things happen, it’s a number or a letter problem’,” she recalled.

Stunned driver receives first fine

However, the Newcastle local said she was shocked when a couple of months later she received a $352 fine in the mail claiming she had failed to hand over her details at the scene of an accident. The fine was issued by a police station near Schofields, ACA reports, so Ms Forrest gave them a call to tell them she wasn’t at fault and therefore wouldn't be paying.

“The cop said, 'don’t pay that one, I’ll send you another one'. And I said, 'it wasn’t me and it wasn’t my car', and he sent me another one for $899,” she said. The second fine is “for not disclosing who was driving my car”.

“No one else drives my car but myself,” she added.

Ms Forrest has reportedly tried to appeal the $899 fine with the transport department, state revenue and her local MP but says nothing helped, forcing her to hire a lawyer.

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Woman forks out thousands on lawyer

“So I have spent over $3,000 getting a lawyer to fight this as I am an innocent person and I just can't accept these fines,” she told ACA, explaining that if she paid the bill, she “will have insurance against” her, and if she doesn’t, her registration and licence could be cancelled.

“They’ve got the wrong number plate, the wrong car, and the officer hasn’t done his job and I’m not backing down for no one.”

A close friend of Ms Forrest’s claims the pair were together at their local pub on the night of the alleged accident, and that she had seen her car parked in Newcastle. Police told ACA Ms Forrest’s matter is proceeding but declined to comment because it has been bought before the courts.

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