Ticket from the past

QUECHEE, Vt. -- Janelle Dunklee had been driving without a driver's license for 27 years without even realizing it, reported WPTZ-TV in Plattsburgh.

Dunklee said she recently got a letter from the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles stating that she needed to pay a fine to have her license reinstated. Dunklee, not knowing why her license had been suspended in the first place, said she called the DMV.

She said the DMV told her they had been clearing out their records and found Dunklee owed money on a speeding ticket issued in 1980. Dunklee said that upon further research, she found out she supposedly had been pulled over for going 43 in a 30-mph zone in Hartford on Sept. 17, 1980, and had been issued a $26 ticket.

Dunklee said she had never been pulled over in her life, and decided to fight the charge.

On Tuesday, Dunklee went to court and said the prosecution and the judge were surprised by the delay. They were so surprised, in fact, that they dismissed the ticket.

State's Attorney Robert Sand said that in 1980, paperwork was done by hand, and it wasn't uncommon for things to get lost.

The officer who issued the ticket to Dunklee said it was so long ago that he couldn't remember ever giving it.