Driver fraud rife in chase for licence

Desperate drivers are cheating their way through licence tests using earpieces, dodgy translators, stand-in drivers and bribery.

Land Transport New Zealand admitted yesterday that Auckland, with its high population of new immigrants, was "definitely the hotbed" for licence cheats.

The scams have prompted action from Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven, who said yesterday he would possibly even look at a return to police-administered licensing.

"When you have a policeman sitting beside you doing your driver's licence test, you have a lot more respect for that person. It's something that I'd certainly like to discuss with the Minister of Police."

A testing officer based at the AA Westgate centre in Auckland said drivers were going to extraordinary new lengths to pass tests. One woman had recently used an earpiece to get instructions from her husband.

The woman's husband drove behind the test car, directing the woman when to indicate, when to give way and which gaps to take.

She was caught and her test terminated, LTNZ spokesman Andy Knackstedt confirmed yesterday.

But it was more difficult to detect when translators passed on advice as well as directions.

"People do get caught quite regularly. I think we'd be naive to say we're catching everyone. It's a bit of an ongoing issue for us."

Mr Knackstedt also said people had tried to cheat by having a better driver sit their test for them.

"We get cases where people will turn up and say that they are somebody that they're not.'

Testing officers had this year been reminded to be more vigilant, particularly when a translator was in the car. "It's pretty obvious if somebody is saying more than 'turn right, turn left'," Mr Knackstedt said.

Immigrants cheating the system was nothing new, said Lincoln Tan, editor of bilingual ethnic newspaper iBall.

Cheating using translators, and bribery, were commonplace.

"I mean, it happens and people are getting away with it. Talk to students - it's pretty common, these are things they talk about and they know they can get away with."

The Westgate testing officer said an Afghani woman had failed the full licence test 13 times. It was common for failed drivers to try to bribe testing officers into passing them.

One woman had offered him all her cash. When he refused, she offered to take him to her house for food.

A second driving tester at Westgate in Massey said testers were aware there was cheating, but it was almost impossible to detect.

The instructor, who did not want to be named, said he had failed three pupils in two years for cheating.

"It's hard to pick up. They could translate 'turn left', and it could be anything."

Mr Knackstedt said LTNZ had decided it would be too expensive to hire its own translators. "It's about trying to strike a balance between making it straightforward and relatively inexpensive."

Inspector John Kelly, manager of operations for Wellington's road policing, said cheating was "a big city problem". "I would say it's pretty widespread. Of course police are concerned that such things happen, because it does impact on road safety; there are drivers out there who are not qualified to be on the road."

He did not know how many drivers were caught with illegally-obtained licences, but said it was easy to accept them at face value.

He had not heard of anyone using earpieces but knew of translators coaching drivers - one testing officer had told him he had taken a woman out with a translator who started instructing her.

"Unfortunately the testing officer also spoke the same language. That was quite funny."

Mr Duynhoven said while there had been "irregularities" in the past, he had not heard of earpieces being used. "That really concerns me. If there are problems with that, then we are going to have to look at the procedures."

He said there was a problem with using family members and friends as translators, but did not think hiring translators was viable.

Last March, the Westgate centre was exposed for licence fraud after a driver was filmed buying a licence off an instructor.

-HERALD ON SUNDAY