Police to probe driver-licence racket

Land Transport New Zealand is poised to hand evidence of alleged driver-licence fraud in Auckland's Asian community to the police.

The agency's media manager, Andy Knackstedt, confirmed last night it had been investigating for several weeks claims that people were driving with full licences without having "earned" the right.

The agency had the power to cancel such licences and he would hand evidence to the police this week.

Mr Knackstedt would not give details for fear of prejudicing a police investigation, but said the evidence related to allegations of fraud involving drivers' licences in the Asian community in Auckland.

He had earlier appeared on the launch edition of TV3's new flagship current affairs programme Campbell Live, which featured hidden camera footage of a woman paying a Chinese driving instructor for a licence.

The woman, whose identity was disguised, said she told the man several times she was a poor driver but he promised she would gain her licence without having to sit any test.

"He said, I get my friend to sign it - he's a tester," she told the programme. When she said $400 was a large sum, he indicated the tester would receive at least half of it.

He warned her not to use her temporary licence immediately, as she was supposed to sit her practical test the next day. The programme filmed the pair meeting at the home of the woman's friend, who she said was one of three people she knew had bought licences issued from three Auckland testing centres.

The friend had also bought her licence from a Chinese instructor.

The woman featured in the programme contacted the instructor after failing her practical driving test. The tester said she did not observe give-way signs.

Another driving instructor, hired by the programme but not told she had already gained a licence, said she could start a car and stop it "but everything in between needs a heck of a lot of work".

He agreed with the programme's reporter that the woman was "an accident waiting to happen".

Less than a month after first approaching the Chinese instructor, however, she received her full driver's licence in the mail.

The programme phoned Land Transport NZ's 0800 licensing number and was told she was presumed to have sat her test at the AA's offices at Westgate, Waitakere City.

Other driving instructors phoned by the programme in response to advertisements in a Chinese language newspaper recommended the Westgate testing base as a place of "friendly" people where she could be guaranteed to pass.

The woman said that of three other licences similarly bought by people she knew, only one was issued at Westgate - the others were from Auckland City and Mt Wellington.

Staff at the AA Westgate centre said they could not recognise the signature on her temporary licence, although the manager offered to check documentation to find out.