Toronto traffic ticket tossed after 18-year wait to hear appeal
Posted May 21, 2026 2:40 pm.
Last Updated May 22, 2026 8:48 am.
The trial of Socrates was wrapped up in a day.
O.J. Simpson’s murder trial lasted nine months.
Neville Greene fought his ticket for running a red light in Toronto for 19 years before an Ontario Court of Justice judge finally tossed it last week.
According to court documents, the legal saga began on June, 4, 2007, when Greene was pulled over and ticketed for running a red light on Jane Street near Sheppard Avenue West.
He fought the Highway Traffic Act violation, and the case went to trial more than a year later, on July 10, 2008, with Greene acting in his own defence, to no avail.
“An officer testified that he committed the offence,” the court documents read. “Mr. Greene testified in his own defence and denied committing the offence. He was convicted.”
Greene promptly appealed.
Then he waited……..and waited…………until the appeal was finally heard 18 long years later on May 13, 2026.
Between the ticket being issued and the appeal being heard Toronto went through four different mayors. The iPhone came to market and social media changed the world. There were wars and pandemics and regime changes, but that stubborn ticket survived it all.
Until it was tossed by Justice Brock Jones on May 14, 2026.
Justice Jones concluded that Greene did everything right for a timely conclusion.
“He perfected his appeal within the applicable timelines,” the judge wrote. “It was not explained to me why it took nearly 18 years for the appeal to be heard, other than that the paperwork may have been “lost” for a long time.
“I granted the appeal and vacated the conviction,” he wrote, adding that the lawyer representing the City of Toronto “invited me to enter an acquittal as it would not be in the public interest to send the case back for a new trial in these circumstances.”
