Hunt widens for driving test fraud cases

Land Transport New Zealand yesterday cancelled the driver's licence of a woman who claimed she bought it from a Chinese instructor without sitting a road test.

The instructor, who offered to pay off a friend whom he described as a tester, did not respond to phone calls and it is not known whether his driving school has been shut down.

The suspension comes after Land Transport said a wider investigation is under way into licensing fraud.

The national testing organisation NZ Driver Licensing Ltd said last night that it swapped the shift of an Auckland testing officer to make him available for an investigation "should he be required".

Managing director Roger Marley said he did not know details of the man's alleged role in the case or whether other parties were involved.

He denied the man had been suspended, despite a suggestion to that effect on television last night by a Land Transport spokesman.

Land Transport, which has ultimate responsibility for licensing, met police in Auckland to broaden a probe it says it has been running for several weeks into claims of licensing fraud in the Asian community.

The agency says it has been investigating the claims independently of evidence gathered by TV3's Campbell Live programme, which secretly filmed the woman after she volunteered to buy a licence for $400.

The agency says it cannot disclose details of the investigation, but Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven confirmed it was more widespread than the woman's case.

The woman, who admits to being an unskilled driver, claims she knows three other Asians who bought licences without sitting tests.

Although TV3 masked her face during a meeting with the driving instructor, Land Transport NZ was able to identify her and invalidate her licence.

No other licences have yet been cancelled, but Mr Duynhoven said others which might have been issued fraudulently could be traced.

National's Asian relations spokeswoman, Pansy Wong, said complaints had been circulating in her community for years about "outrageous scams and advertisements" for driver licences.

"People have been trying to alert the authorities and Government, but they did nothing and Asians are left to carry the can," she said.

Mr Duynhoven denied the Government had dragged its heels, saying that if Mrs Wong had not forwarded evidence of fraud to the authorities, "she should consider whether she has served the interests of New Zealand".

He acknowledged supplying details about seven complaints in response to questions she raised in Parliament last year, but said these related to driver training and not licensing fraud.

According to his written answers, no evidence of wrongdoing was found, except of a person advertising driving lessons without endorsement by Land Transport NZ.

Although one complaint involved an advert in an ethnic newspaper guaranteeing applicants would pass their driving tests, Mr Duynhoven said they were offered their money back if they failed.

In a reference to another written answer, he said an offer to take students over an approved test route, though undesirable, was not illegal.

But the minister admitted surprise when told by the Herald of a claim by another Chinese driving instructor that an advertiser in a Mandarin-language newspaper was promising applicants they could get licences without needing to sit a test.

The newspaper spoke yesterday to the instructor, who said he believed the advertiser was running a separate scam to that exposed by TV3, and he had reported this to the police in December because of his concern about untrained drivers on the road.

Mrs Wong also pointed to figures showing that 719 people were issued licences from Auckland's Westgate testing centre after "special event" tests offered to speakers of foreign languages, usually at weekends.

That is where TV3's volunteer had her licence issued.

The driving school operated by the instructor caught on TV was listed as delivering 253 clients to the centre. Licences were given to 204, an 80.6 per cent pass rate.

Another driving school did even better, with 142 passes among 147 clients - a pass rate of 96.6 per cent.

All practical tests north of Taupo were conducted at the time of these "special events" by the Automobile Association, which lost that work in May to Mr Marley's organisation.

The AA, whose testing offices were inherited by the newcomer, retains responsibility for theory tests and for booking licence applications at Westgate and various other centres.

Mr Duynhoven said there was nothing untoward about offering foreign-language speakers special times to sit tests, although he accepted there might be advantage in driving in quieter weekend traffic.

Nine testing bases in Auckland offered such facilities, and all would be investigated if necessary.

Pass rates

* 204 out of 253 from one school (80.6 per cent).

* 142 out of 147 from another school (96.6 per cent).