Drivers who tried to scam the speeding ticket centre by attempting to use foreign drivers’ details to escape penalties have been fined up to €2,600.
They bought the licence details on the internet and police moved in after one foreign driver received 14,200 fines and it was obvious he could not have been driving.
Another foreign driver was sent 1,270 fine notices.
Eight drivers were found guilty of fraud in Besançon, Doubs.
When they received speeding tickets, they sent the penalty notice back, saying their car was being used by a foreigner at the time. They gave details of a driving licence they had bought on the internet.
This meant the Rennes centre sent the foreigner the penalty notice and when it was not paid, it could not take any action. However, once the scale of the fraud was discovered, officers decided to target the owners of the cartes grises of the speeding vehicles.
One driver, who claimed a foreigner was driving six times, received the heaviest penalty of a €2,600 fine.
A Sécurité Routière spokesman said this was only one of several frauds regularly uncovered by officers.
He did not know the details of which country’s driving licences were used in this case, but he said Poland and Hungary, within the EU, were known to have criminals who used internet sites to sell false papers, including driving licences.
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