Court is saying i will be suspended for not paying additional fines that i didn't know about?

[condan]

So i got a speeding ticket a year ago in a small city far away from me. I called them over the phone to plead guilty and pay a fine of $275 which i paid. They emailed me a payment agreement that made me sign and state that i will pay the fine or my license will be suspended, which i did. Now over a year later i get a letter stating that they will suspend my license because i "Failed to remain citation free for 12 months. Original fines imposed. Amount owed to Court: $302.00" I did receive another ticket in my home city in Feb of this year. Now here's the part i don't understand. No one had told me over the phone that i was paying a reduced fine and i had to remain citation free, i also never signed anything saying i acknowledge this. When i called the court they said that it's "an unwritten rule" and that someone should have told me about it when i called. So now they say i need to pay this additional money because i broke their rule and theres nothing i can do about it except pay. Is there anything i can do about this?

Thanks for your help in advance.

[chadburne48]

that's crazy--i've never heard of that before. i would say that you might be better off to go there and show up for court and contest this. if you haven't had any other tickets, they may give you "pass". usually ignorance of the law isn't an excuse, but in this case--it may be valid. was it in a different state? as the driver, it's your responsibility to know the law---but if it's an "unwritten rule"--how could you have possibly known. i think i would try to fight this!

[golding]

Do you have a copy of what you signed? I'll bet the "unwritten rule" is written right there.