Traffic fines boss escaped tickets

THE head of the national agency for motoring offences has been caught using public money to pay his own fines.

According to the website Mediapart, the director of the Agence Nationale de traitement automatisé des infractions, Jean-Jacques Debacq, used public funds to pay for fines run up by his agency car.

The news website said it had seen documents from 2010-2013 where Mr Debacq charged a dozen fines totalling €700 to the agency he worked for.

For several of fines which were caught on camera the driver of the agency vehicle, a Peugeot 508, was listed as 'unidentified', enabling the driver to avoid having points deducted.

Mr Debacq told iTELE that he had done nothing illegal.

France's administration watchdog has launched an enquiry.