Did not pay parking fines ... Briana Domjen lost her driving licence. Picture: Damian Shaw Source: Supplied
MORE than 300,000 licences will be taken away from NSW motorists this financial year because they cannot pay fines.
An investigation by dailytelegraph.com.au reveals nearly 102,000 people had their right to drive revoked in the first four months of 2013-14 - not for running out of demerit points but, rather, for running out of money. Some hadn't even committed a road-related offence.
The rate of suspensions has increased by over 60 per cent in three years due to a jump in the number of fines issued and new technology at the Office of State Revenue which is aiding its crack down on debts.
"We've gotten much better at imposing sanctions," said the OSR's executive services manager Melissa Gowen, adding that any fine issued by a state government agency could trigger a freeze.
NSW is taking away more than 40 times as many licences as Victoria.
Suspension prompts many to pay, producing a windfall for the State Government. But tens of thousands - especially the poor and young - cannot cough up. Many will keep on driving any way, not only illegally but often without compulsory third party insurance.
"The NRMA is very alarmed about the number of suspensions and the increase," saidNRMA spokesman Peter Khoury.
Australian Council of Social Service CEO Cassandra Goldie said: "This is indeed disturbing news and reflects the increasing hardship experienced by people living on low incomes."
Financial Counselling Australia executive director Fiona Guthrie said: "Our counsellors are seeing lots of people who are asking for help with this."
Curtin University academic Anna Ferrante, who has studied links between fine-related licence suspensions, driving while disqualified and imprisonment, said: "An auditor-general needs to sit over the top of the enforcement system."
In May, then Finance Minister Greg Pearce said more than $1 million a day in overdue fines was being collected. Mr Pearce was stood down in August after The Telegraph revealed he had appointed his wife's boss to the board of Sydney Water without telling Premier Barry O'Farrell.
The NRMA's Mr Khoury's said a fine could be contested "if you think you've been hard done by". If not, "our advice is to contact the OSR straight away and talk to them. Don't pretend it doesn't exist".
The OSR's Ms Gowen said it was possible to ask for more time to pay a fine or to seek that the debt be written off.
At the end of September this year there were 4.8 million licensed drivers in NSW meaning about 6 per cent of motorists will face suspension in 2013-14 for not paying some sort of fine.
Around Australia, more than 600,000 motorists will likely have their licence taken away, dailytelegraph.com.au has found.
SOURCE;NEWS
0 comments:
Post a Comment