The SUSPENSION NOTICE

Back on October 16 I woke up early and headed to Meriden. I was contesting a ticket I’d been given for Sec. 14-218a. Traveling unreasonably fast.

I’d worked on my best Matlock/Perry Mason defense, but was short circuited. A plea deal was offered. I accepted. My Visa was tapped for a $75 donation to the Connecticut Injured Victims Fund.

Case closed!

Not so fast. This afternoon’s mail brought a serious looking red and black letter from the Connecticut DMV. Here’s the nut graf:

YOUR CONNECTICUT OPERATOR’S LICENSE WILL BE SUSPENDED ON 12/05/12

That’s not good!

I called the number listed for Superior Court in Meriden and spoke to Sean in the clerk’s office. It took him ten seconds to check my case and see it had been ‘nollied.’ Unfortunately the DMV suspended my license, not the court.

I dialed the DMV in Wethersfield. If there is a more confusing, time wasting, unfriendly phone system, I haven’t experienced it. Seriously, press one if this is world class awful!

I wended my way through the phone tree branches until I finally reached a point where I could request and operator… and wait.

Guess how long?

I stayed on hold long enough to memorize the hours for the part time offices in Putnam and Winsted. I now know stickers are no longer issued and can be removed from your windshield. The music-on-hold was the same eight bars repeated over-and-over-and-over. It was that special low fidelity music you only hear on hold–the kind that makes you wonder if it is possibly a kazoo band?

I spent 27 minutes on hold!

I am sure if we submitted prisoners-of-war to this music on hold/announcement hell they’d have a cause for action. Maybe damages? I’ll never be the same.

As has been my experience when dealing with humans at the DMV, Matt who answered my call was ready to help.

He asked my name and date-of-birth, told me he saw my case was ‘nolle prossed’ and said it’s been taken care of.

That’s it? No forms? No begging? I am good to go?

Just to be on the safe side I’ve got all the names written down. We’ll see what happens on December 5.

If you see me in shackles you’ll understand.

13 thoughts on “The SUSPENSION NOTICE”

  1. Guess you’d better get a Dog Sled and start training Doppler… it’s going to be a long cold winter to try Biking it to Hartford.

  2. Only 27 minutes? That’s quick! Seriously, I’ve had customers tell me they’ve waited over an hour. This is in no way condoning the 27 minutes. When customers come in with suspension issues (which we have nothing to do with in the individual branches), I always give them the number to the suspension unit with my apologies.

  3. Geoff…Seriously You crack me up. No matter what the topic is you always have a way of making me laugh. Thank you for that! Try to have a good night.

  4. 27 minutes is not as bad as being on hold with the IRS for 2 hrs and 56 mins going through 5 departments only to be told sorry can’t offer help or suggestings to you. Good luck I hope it’s that easy for you Geoff.

  5. Just wondering what your defense lines were going to be Geoff? Coming home from visiting family a week ago I was stopped in New York State doing 80 in a 65. The officer “did me a favor” by giving me a failure to obey traffic control vs. a speeding ticket. He advised no points on my license, no impact on insurance and a fine “one eighth” of that a speeding ticket would give. The following day I made the phone calls. Court house in New York advised $100 for the ticket plus $80 court cost, two points on the license. My insurance agent advised it would be seen as a moving violation and subsequent hike to rates “might” apply, might not. Attorney advised a plea of not guilty, 85% of the time would result in reduced fine and no points or(15%) judge gets pissed off for wasting the courts time and reimposed the much steeper fines and points associated with a speeding ticket! Gotta love it. The kicker is I wasn’t going any faster than the cars in front if me or behind. I was however the in between with a significant spacing in back and in front of me. That’s the only reason I can think of for this state police officer singling me out. I was the easy target. That and the fact I choose to drive a car more often associated with a younger crowd. Ahhh what to do. Guilty or not guilty? Any suggestions folks?

  6. Reminds me of a case like a friend of mine:

    He went to renew his license this summer, but couldn’t for unknown reasons (I’m assuming he was smart and went to a AAA office). He checked it with the DMV, to find out he had “an unresolved case” from 9 years ago. He paid $60 to reopen it, to find out that in fact, it HAD been resolved and everything was fine. Meanwhile, he had wasted his entire day at the DMV for no reason…

    Why was I not shocked when he told me all of this?

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