WESTPORT, Mass. (WPRI) — Tracey Greenhalgh reached out for help after her license was going to be suspended in December.
Months earlier, she had received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) claiming she had three outstanding driving violations dating back to 1988. Greenhalgh knew it was a mistake because she had already taken care of those tickets decades earlier.
“It stated that as of Dec. 14, if I did not take the driver’s safety class, I would lose my license … and I’m a licensed visiting nurse for Southcoast VNA, so it’s not an option,” she said.
12 News obtained the letter which shows three driving offenses from 1988, yet the conviction date read September 2022 — 34 years later.
Greenhalgh remembers the night it happened, when she was 18, and went to court for it back then.
“I actually did get the ticket. I was driving past midnight over the lines. I wasn’t drinking or anything,” she recalled. “I got pulled over by the police officer, got cited, dealt with it in court, you know, the next week, paid the ticket, everything was good, didn’t hear anything of it anymore.”
According to the letter, her license would be suspended within 90 days if she didn’t attend and pass a driver retraining program.
Greenhalgh said she signed up and paid nearly $150 out of fear that she would lose her license if she didn’t.
“It’s just insane, something such a long time ago that I dealt with,” she added. “Years later, they’re looking into this saying that I did something bad 35 years ago and I need to take a class for it. And all the times I’ve renewed my license I’ve never had an issue, nothing against me.”
12 News reached out to the RMV which removed the violations and Greenhalgh was refunded the money for the class.
