Tall stories used to escape speeding tickets

One woman blamed her relatives for 158 offences while another man blamed his dead father.

The figures, obtained from the State Debt Recovery Office, reveal 626 drivers, who had lodged a combined 2871 driver nominations blaming others for their fines, were investigated.

A spokesman for the Office of State Revenue said investigators believed they were suspect because the person they nominated disputed having driven the car, the nominated driver was unlicensed, held a foreign licence or was dead, or the same driver was nominated repeatedly by others. They also checked if the person trying to avoid the fine had done so previously.

Of those 626 drivers, 131 admitted they had falsely nominated someone else for their offence when advised they were being investigated by the SDRO, which has set up a dedicated unit to investigate the fraud. A total of 28 people were referred to police for prosecution and more matters remained under investigation.

The spokesman said while the fraudsters comprised only a small proportion of the total of 305,000 driver nominations processed last year for demerit point offences, they were still a concern.

False nominations achieved intense media attention from 2006 when former judge Marcus Einfeld nominated a dead US professor, Theresa Brennan, for driving his car which attracted a speeding fine. He recently pleaded guilty to making a false statement under oath and acting to pervert the course of justice and now faces a possible jail term.

If you've heard a good tall story we look forward to hearing about it - leave a comment and go in to the running for a $50 fuel card.

Source: Daily Telegraph