![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c87ae088d52c18350d15c9832351d09f038a1995cde90f47dafcdc9b10e1f034.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nExclusive: It was a chilly winter\u2019s day in July when Laura was driving back from the NSW Southern Highlands to Sydney on the Hume Motorway.<\/p>\n
Her friend was rugged up in the passenger seat with a shawl covering her chest and shoulders.<\/p>\n
It was at that moment a mobile detection camera snapped a photo of inside the car.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Laura and her passenger, pictured in an infringement photo provided by Revenue NSW.\u00a0Revenue NSW<\/p>\n
Laura, who asked for her name to be withheld for privacy reasons, was fined $423 and hit with three demerit points, with NSW Revenue alleging her friend was not wearing her seatbelt correctly.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a claim Laura adamantly disputes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no way she was not wearing a seat belt,\u201d Laura told nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the seatbelt was worn correctly, it was just underneath the shawl, which she was using like a blanket.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the folds in the shawl very clearly,\u201d Laura said, of the photo provided by Revenue NSW of the alleged offence.<\/p>\n Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at\u00a0EMcPherson@nine.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n Laura challenged the fine with Revenue NSW, but it was upheld after a review.<\/p>\n Her only remaining option to fight the fine was to go to court, a move she said was simply not possible due to her work commitments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe likelihood of me getting time off work is close to nil,\u201d Laura said.<\/p>\n Laura relented and paid the fine last week, despite insisting her passenger had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n Her case is similar to dozens of drivers who have contacted nine.com.au<\/a> over the past few months, who claim they have been falsely accused of seatbelt offences, but have paid up anyway due to being reluctant to face the stress, cost or time needed to take the matter to court.<\/p>\n However, Sydney lawyer Mickaela Mate, principal of Mate Lawyers, who has defended clients with seatbelt fines in court, said many of the cases she saw deserved to be challenged.<\/p>\n In her experience, Mate said the photos provided as evidence by Revenue NSW, and used by Transport for NSW to prosecute motorists, often fell short of the courtroom standards needed to prove a seatbelt offence beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n \u201cThe image quality in itself is not always the greatest, and so, in my view, it’s often poorer than it is good,\u201d Mate said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The black-and-white photos were often blurry and visually confusing, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that I’m actually seeing the most is that you’re just left wondering – because the picture is not conclusive either way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mate said in most cases she had been able to get her clients\u2019 seatbelt fines withdrawn or dismissed, either by writing to Transport for NSW and pointing out the deficiencies in their evidence, or by successfully defending her clients in court.<\/p>\n A ‘David and Goliath’ battle for drivers\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Mate acknowledged that going to court could be a stressful and time-consuming experience for many people.<\/p>\n The legal fees for engaging representation in court could be prohibitive, and were likely to outweigh the value of the fine, she added.<\/p>\n It was often a \u201cDavid and Goliath\u201d situation, and challenging a seatbelt fine in court was not without risk, Mate said, with fines of up to $2000 and the – albeit slim – possibility of a criminal conviction imposed if a motorist lost their case.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/303ad2e19ea6f2c8d5728e2f07300a2c2148e87f3b67845a973ca897e9611680.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/3c2a159e58956cbb500c997316764cb47da67581a0719ca58b219064f17a33ab.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n