A Pembroke man racked up $63,000 in fines after driving his unlicensed and uninsured car through the new Electronic Vehicle Registration system (EVR) 36 times.

However, Carlos Simas may not have to pay his mammoth punishment if a potentially landmark appeal judgment at Supreme Court today rules such multiple fines illegal.

Simas, of Moore's Lane, pleaded guilty to driving the car unlicensed and without third party insurance between August 15 and September 18 when he appeared at Magistrates' Court yesterday.

His fine is the largest since the new system was implemented in July.

Initially Simas told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner he wasn't going to plead guilty to all the counts because someone else was also driving the car.

He admitted to half of the offences then changed his mind and pleaded guilty to all of the counts.

The 26 year old received a $1,000 fine each time he was caught driving the uninsured car. He received another 36 citations, each with a fine of $750, for driving it unlicensed.

Simas, whose car was impounded, was also fined $100 for driving without a valid driver's license on September 18.

He was additionally charged with fraudulently altering road traffic documents, which he denied. Crown counsel Robert Welling dismissed the charge.

Simas was given until November 29 to pay the fine and was given a six month driving ban.

However, a ruling due from Justice Ian Kawaley today might mean that Magistrates stop handing out individual fines each time a driver goes through the EVR detector before they're notified of the offence.

Law firm Mello Jones & Martin launched the appeal on behalf of their client, Richard Cox from Devonshire, who was fined almost $20,000 for going through an EVR camera 11 times.

The first offence was on July 10 and he is said to have gone through the camera ten more times, unaware of the situation until he was notified on August 5.

Shadow Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell, who works for Mello Jones & Martin, said of the appeal: "It is a landmark – it's the first one. The EVR system has just recently been implemented in July.

"We've seen a proliferation of people going before the Magistrates' Court for multiple offences. Every time a vehicle not registered goes through these check spots a picture's taken of the vehicle.

"They investigate them, issue them with a ticket. The problem is, these cars can go through these check points multiple times before they're notified they're in breach."

Mr. Crockwell – who stressed that he was speaking in his political rather than legal capacity – said the issue is whether the first time someone goes through the camera it should be treated as just one continuous offence until they get notification.

"There's some legal precedent to support that. There's issues with totting up all these tickets.

"You then get people fined $20,000 for not having your car registered and someone intoxicated gets $1,000. That seems grossly inequitable," he said.

Although much depends on the exact wording of Justice Kawaley's ruling in the Cox case, Mr. Crockwell said that a result in his favour may mean Government has to re-draft the law.

It could also create a precedent that Magistrates would have to follow. However, other recipients of large multiple fines would probably still have to mount their own individual appeals.

Government announced last month that the EVR system yielded some $267,000 in fines by the time an August report was compiled.

"Vehicle owners now realising they cannot beat the system, are going to TCD to ensure their vehicles are tagged," Premier and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said at the time. "For the motoring public, unlicensed vehicles on the road equate to greater risk because unlicensed vehicles have not received an annual safety inspection."

Dr. Brown said the reason people were getting their vehicles tagged could be because they had heard about a driver who was slapped with a $5,000 fine.

The Premier also mentioned a driver who, like Simas, racked up an expensive fine – $20,000.

"Although those situations are extreme, one thing is clear – when everybody pays, everybody saves," he said.

TCD plans to introduce tagging on bikes but a date has yet to be set.

The minimum fine if the EVR camera detects an unlicensed vehicle is $750, with a minimum $1,000 fine for having no insurance.