Tour de fine: French driver racks up 1,606 demerits in four months

Authorities believe the dodgy driver, who left the country after racking up 1606 demerits in just four months, used counterfeit French documents to get a provisional licence.

A single driver who used counterfeit French documents to get a NSW licence accrued an eye-watering 1,606 demerit points over three months – enough to lose his licence more than 123 times over.

The foreign national was unearthed by the Demerit Point Integrity Taskforce in its crackdown on foreign drivers rorting the system, with authorities now pledging to close gaping loopholes.

Over three months between last December and this April, NSW’s worst driver committed a total of 355 offences – averaging more than three every day.

The offences came with a cumulative fine amount of $114,485; none of that has been paid.

Transport for NSW has also unearthed evidence that the driver used counterfeit French documents to get a provisional NSW licence – which was issued on February this year.

The driver was pulled over by Police 11 times in four months.

TfNSW will now work with the French consulate on any “further steps” that can be taken to identify and prevent fraud, after The Daily Telegraph uncovered evidence of French nationals working together to flout the law.

The man’s 355 penalties included 11 where the driver was stopped by NSW Police.

Separately, the Telegraph can reveal details of another horror driver who accrued 580 demerit points from April to July.

In a single day in June, the male licence holder, from Ultimo, racked up 141 demerit points – enough to lose his licence almost 11 times over.

The Daily Telegraph has previously unearthed a single house in Sydney which was listed as the address of 30 drivers, mainly French nationals. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Among the man’s 20 offences in a one-day reign of terror on Sydney’s roads, he was caught speeding 15 times, running red lights twice, and unlawfully using his phone.

With double demerits in place, those 20 offences collected a whopping 141 points.

In three months, this one driver committed 123 driving offences, mainly speeding, for a total of 580 demerit points, according to the government’s Demerit Point Integrity Taskforce.

The licence has now been cancelled.

The Daily Telegraph previously revealed that French nationals, including some linked to a single Sydney house, were conspiring to exploit loopholes in the demerit point system. Picture: Richard Dobson

Meanwhile, it can now be revealed that the man who sparked the entire crackdown on the demerit system accumulated a total of 553 demerit points before fleeing the country.

When French national was discovered by NSW Police highway patrol officers in May, he had 240 demerit points. By the time he left the country, that had more than doubled.

Highway and traffic patrol officers have access to an individual’s traffic record when they pull someone over, but the system is not updated in real time.

The above delivery driver, a French national, racked up 540 demerit points before fleeing the country.

Those delays are allowing repeat offenders to slip through the net and flee the country before the law catches up with them.

Roads Minister John Graham said that the extent to which some drivers are exploiting loopholes is “shocking”.

“Racking up more than 1600 demerit points is unimaginably reckless,” he said.

“The magnitude of (some drivers’) offending – and the threat is poses to road safety – is quite frankly shocking.

“I want to assure the 6.9 million licence holders in NSW that the system will remain fair and user-friendly – but we are no longer going to be taken advantage of by a tiny fraction of fly-in fly-out rule breakers.”

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