Supporting the road to recovery

Fiona engaged with PCLC having been issued with a 7 Day Notice for over $335,000 in outstanding fines, all of which were toll fines. She was pressured by her former partner to use the toll road to travel to and from work, a trip that would take her approximately two hours each way. She was financially reliant on her former partner who refused to give her money to pay the tolls or infringements. PCLC’s team immediately assisted Fiona in submitting her urgent Family Violence Scheme (FVS) application pending the receipt of supporting materials. This allowed Fiona to obtain supporting evidence from her treating professional but ran the risk of her application being considered on the basis of the support material provided (none at this stage) should Fiona take too long to obtain anything, meaning the application would fail and enforcement would proceed. With her application, noted as urgent, processed by Fines Victoria, Fiona did not have to worry about being susceptible to sheriff or police involvement whilst trying to obtain supporting material. Fiona’s FVS application was ultimately successful based on a police application for intervention order against her former partner for an earlier incident, as well as her statutory declaration about her experience of family violence contributing to her incurring of fines. This resulted in Fiona’s debt of over $335,000 being completely withdrawn.