A few days ago in Scarborough I was ticketed for Fail to Surrender Permit for Motor Vehicle. After confirming to the officer that I didn't know why I was pulled over, he said he ran my license plate and the sticker came back as expired. That definitely wasn't the case, and the valid sticker was on my license plate (front as I drive a pick-up truck). When he asked for my license, ownership, and insurance, I had all the documents but the ownership is a laminated copy of the front. I didn't have the back side as it doesn't contain any ownership info. I didn't think the back side was necessary to prove ownership of the vehicle. Anyway it would seem that the MOT didn't register the sticker to my vehicle which resulted in me being pulled over and consequently fined. I'm wondering what my rights are, i.e. can I plead not guilty since I was pulled over due to a mistake by a third party and would never have been pulled over if the MOT wouldn't have made a mistake. Or do I bite the bullet and please guilty with an explanation and pray for a fine reduction. Thx.

By law, you are required to have a "true copy" of your ownership, which means the front and back of the document. This is because part of your validation sticker is affixed to the back of the ownership document.

As for your defence, I dont think you have one. The MTO may have made an error, but I dont think the Courts would see the traffic stop as some gross violation of your rights. The officer was acting in good faith, and such a stop is typically considered a relatively minor detention. If the stop was based on racial profiling, etc., you might have a charter argument.

Id look into what happened with your validation. Do you own multiple vehicles? If the sticker was registered to the wrong vehicle, youll need to correct that with the MTO. Stickers are not interchangeable, they have to go on the vehicle that they were purchased for. Sometimes their databases are simply down when you buy a new sticker and it takes a few days to make it onto the system.

The offence that youve been charged with is quite minor. Im sure if you met with the Crown, theyd offer you a reduced fine for a guilty plea.

Thx for the reply. The incident may be minor to some, but the fine is $110 ($85 + $25) which isn't minor on a fixed income. Actually, the officer said he was going to look into it with the MOT and proceed with more charges if my sticker wasn't valid. So I'm sure the sticker (which I've had now for 9 months) will be validated as a result of his investigation.

In my opinion a charter argument here would not succeed. Even if the reason you were stopped was the result of a mistake by a third party, it doesn't transform the stop into an arbitrary detention under s. 9. The officer was acting in good faith in the course of his duty to enforce the HTA.