New Brunswick is a little slow when it comes to collecting on speeding tickets. Two men are being fined for traffic violations the government says they committed more than 20 years ago.

Both now live out of province, but the Canada Revenue Agency is still asking them to cough up more than $100 each for offences they barely remember.

“I was shocked,” said John Kenny, one of the drivers caught up in the crackdown. “I didn't know what it was in reference to, and I had to get some more information on it.”

His ticket was from the early 1990s when he was just passing through the province.

“I was living in the province of Prince Edward Island,” Kenny said. “It’s a speeding ticket in New Brunswick, and I've been a resident of Nova Scotia for 21 years. So it's a little late.”

Roger Newell also received a blast from the past -- 1991, to be exact.

“I do remember getting pulled over, and from my understanding the date that was on the ticket was a date that I was at sea,” said Newell, whose work at the time often took him offshore.

He said he called to request a different court date, one he’d be able to attend.

“I'm still entitled to a day in court, and if I'm out because of job related issues and I need another date, I'm still entitled to another date.”

But Newell didn’t hear anything back, and eventually forgot about the issue entirely -- until about a month ago, when the CRA said they’d take the ticket out of his income tax return if he didn’t pay the fine.

The CRA says it administers a refund collection program on behalf of provincial governments, but doesn’t know anything about the specific debts they collect. The organization does say, though, that a province can only collect a refund from a person’s income tax if it’s made every reasonable attempt to collect the debt already.

Newell says he isn’t sure what else he can do to fight the charges, and is considering hiring a lawyer. For him, it’s not about the money

“At the end of the day, it’s $115. A lawyer would cost me a lot more,” Newell says. “But it’s a point of principle. I don’t think they’re doing it properly.”

With a report from CTV Atlantic