Red-Light Ticket Dismissed After 19-Year Legal Battle
Toronto driver Neville Greene won his appeal of a 2007 traffic ticket, ending one of Ontario's most protracted judicial sagas.
After nearly two decades of legal warfare, Neville Greene has finally won his fight against a red-light ticket issued in Toronto in 2007. An Ontario Court of Justice judge tossed the citation last week, ending what may be one of the longest-running traffic disputes in Canadian legal history.
Greene was originally pulled over on Jane Street near Sheppard Avenue West on June 4, 2007, and ticketed for running a red light. Rather than accept the fine, he decided to fight it. That decision set him on a legal odyssey that consumed 19 years and wound through Ontario's court system.
According to court documents, the case dragged through delays, postponements, and procedural hurdles that kept it alive long after most disputes would have been resolved. The timeline alone—from 2007 to 2026—dwarfs even famous criminal trials. Socrates' trial was completed in a day. The O.J. Simpson murder case took nine months. Greene's traffic ticket took nearly two decades.
The judge's dismissal last week finally brought the saga to a close. The ruling offers a stark reminder of how Ontario's court system can become clogged with cases that should move quickly, and how determined (or stubborn) a driver can be when they believe they've been wronged.