Serial Driving Offences (or how to read a polish licence)

cyrusdvirus

Dictionary helps crack case of notorious Polish serial offender
RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC, Migration Correspondent

HE WAS one of Ireland’s most reckless drivers, a serial offender who crossed the country wantonly piling up dozens of speeding fines and parking tickets while somehow managing to elude the law.

So effective was his modus operandi of giving a different address each time he was caught that by June 2007 there were more than 50 separate entries under his name, Prawo Jazdy, in the Garda Pulse system. And still not a single conviction.

In the end, the vital clue to his identity lay not with Interpol or the fingerprint database but in the pages of a Polish-English dictionary. Prawo jazdy means driving licence.

In a letter dated June 17th, 2007, an officer from the Garda traffic division wrote that it had come to his attention that members inspecting Polish driving licences were noting Prawo Jazdy as the licence holder’s name.

“Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence,” he wrote.

“Having noticed this I decided to check on Pulse and see how many members have made this mistake. It is quiet [sic] embarrassing to see that the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities.

“He can also be found on the Fixed Charge Processing System as well. This mistake needs to be rectified immediately and a memo sent to the members concerned. I also think that Garda Information Service Centre [in] Castlebar should be notified and some kind of alert put on these two words.”

In Poland, a booklet-type licence such as the one used in the Republic was phased out in 2004 and replaced with a pink, credit card-sized licence with an EU flag, the words Prawo Jazdy in the top right corner with (in admittedly smaller type) the holder’s name and personal details.

A Garda source confirmed that the issue of Polish licences being misread had arisen in 2007, but said the errors were spotted quickly and the problem had now been resolved.

It was not clear whether the confusion was due to licences simply being misread or officers being misled by their holders, he added.

To weed out any other inanimate foreign offenders who might be lurking in the digital depths, the Pulse system has since been updated, with a new section advising officers of the layout of foreign driving licences.

Notices were also sent to Garda stations alerting them to the error.

Expect the recidivist Mrs Library Card from the Czech Republic to have her cover blown.

seanybiker

someone started a thread bout that already

cyrusdvirus

Curses

seanybiker

its still funny though

cyrusdvirus

I have to admit, it did raise a grin here!

seanybiker

someone else is after starting same thread now also ha ha. Link em to here. This thread might win then lol

digitally-yours

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7899171.stm?lss

Details of how police in Ireland finally caught up with the country's most reckless driver have emerged.

He had been wanted from counties Cork to Cavan after racking up scores of speeding tickets and parking fines.

However, each time the serial offender was stopped he managed to evade justice by giving a different address.

But then his cover was blown.

It was discovered that the man every member of the Irish police's rank and file had been looking for - a Mr Prawo Jazdy - wasn't exactly the sort of prized villain whose apprehension leads to an officer winning an award.

In fact he wasn't even human.

"Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence," read a letter from 2007 from an officer working within the Garda's traffic division.

Map showing Poland

"Having noticed this, I decided to check and see how many times officers have made this mistake.

"It is quite embarrassing to see that the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."

The officer added that the "mistake" needed to be rectified immediately and asked that a memo be circulated throughout the force.

In a bid to avoid similar mistakes being made in future relevant guidelines were also amended.

And if nothing else is learnt form this driving-related debacle, Irish police officers should now know at least two words of Polish.

As for the seemingly elusive Mr Prawo Jazdy, he has presumably become a cult hero among Ireland's largest immigrant population

some drive he had

Berty

I feel so proud to be protected by the Irish police force.











Protected Sorry, brainwashing by the government, Im actually one of the many cash cows. :mad:

Saab Ed

LOL Thats very funny. From Mr Ceadunas Tiomana. Not much gets past our lot.

seanybiker

this is the 5th thread i seen on this today lol

mumhaabu

Another reason why EU license's should not be accepted in Ireland. Still how think are our Guards? Seriously I reckon it is a prerequisite that for to get a state job you must pass an IQ test and the lower the better is how it seems.

Saab Ed

mumhaabu wrote: »

Another reason why EU license's should not be accepted in Ireland. Still how think are our Guards? Seriously I reckon it is a prerequisite that for to get a state job you must pass an IQ test and the lower the better is how it seems.

Houda thunk it, them thinkests Guards

doolox

Once upon a time in saner times a driver going abroad needed a translation of his driving licence and photo ID in order to drive on the road.
I think similar rules apply here with people from outside the EEA, imagine ploughing through Arabic or Cyrillic script to decipher the name of some foreign miscreant one catches on the side of the road while proceeding from the station on routine patrol following a definite line of enquiry........
I wont even get started on Chinese, Korean, Thai and other exotic forms of writing far removed from our Roman alphabet.
We need to train our Guards to be up to speed in this sort of thing.
Herr Fuhrershein and Monsieur Permit de Conduire please take note....

L1011

doolox wrote: »

Once upon a time in saner times a driver going abroad needed a translation of his driving licence and photo ID in order to drive on the road.
I think similar rules apply here with people from outside the EEA, imagine ploughing through Arabic or Cyrillic script to decipher the name of some foreign miscreant one catches on the side of the road while proceeding from the station on routine patrol following a definite line of enquiry........
I wont even get started on Chinese, Korean, Thai and other exotic forms of writing far removed from our Roman alphabet.
We need to train our Guards to be up to speed in this sort of thing.
Herr Fuhrershein and Monsieur Permit de Conduire please take note....

Its still in existence and required for most non-EEA countries in Ireland.

The Polish licences are done to an EU standard though! Absolutely no way we can try and blame misreading on anything other than incompetence.

craichoe

mumhaabu wrote: »

Another reason why EU license's should not be accepted in Ireland. Still how think are our Guards? Seriously I reckon it is a prerequisite that for to get a state job you must pass an IQ test and the lower the better is how it seems.

Yeah .. that would be great once you travel outside Ireland. :rolleyes:

It recommended you swap your license if resident in the country but most people don't to exploit the cross border issues

McSpud

Great story, certain to bring a smile to any one who read it today before starting work.

I would love to see if the same Garda made the mistake more than once.

fl4pj4ck

McSpud wrote: »

Great story, certain to bring a smile to any one who read it today before starting work.

I would love to see if the same Garda made the mistake more than once.

twins maybe? so similar they share a name

Run_to_da_hills

This has now reached the Polish media .

http://www.tvp.info/news.html?directory=132&news=884301

cyrusdvirus

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

This has now reached the Polish media .

http://www.tvp.info/news.html?directory=132&news=884301

Wot's it say.......I can't read polish.

Steve

gatecrash wrote: »

Wot's it say.......I can't read polish.

Translation here (not a very good one but you can get the jist of it)
http://translate.google.ie/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvp.info%2Fnews.html%3Fdirectory%3D132%26news%3D884301&sl=pl&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8