UAE driver piles up 170 traffic offences... in just 15 days

An Emirati man piled up 170 traffic offences worth Dh245,000 in just two weeks and most of the violations committed by his rented car were on the motorway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The rent firm fears that it could receive more offences committed by that driver as it was blamed by Dubai police for failing to have his visa card.

Damas car rental company said it had already been notified by the traffic police that the vehicle had accumulated 170 offences involving fines of around Dh245,000, adding that 54 offences involve impounding of the car for 1,620 days.

It said those 54 offences involved driving at more than 200 kph and that the company has to pay in excess of Dh162,000 to avert the car confiscation.

“It seems that this driver deliberately wanted to harm our company,” Damas office director Mohannad Al Hassan said, quoted by Emirat Alyoum daily.

He said the unnamed client was given a Range Rover car after he paid a two-day rent and that the company requested only a copy of his driving licence.

“The driver came back after two weeks and handed back the vehicle in a very bad condition because of his reckless and speedy driving…damage was estimated to cost around Dh40,000…the problem began when we started to received notifications from the traffic police about offences, which have so far reached 170,” he said.

He said that Damas has filed a complaint at Dubai’s traffic police but was told that the company has to resort to court.

“Police will not shoulder the mistakes of car rent companies which do not seek enough protection for themselves,” Dubai’s traffic police chief Major General Mohammed Saif al Zafin said. “This man would not have committed all these ofences had the rent office obtained his visa card…this is the company’s responsibility.”’

Zafin lashed out at car rent firms, saying some of them have been found to be tampering with lease contracts so clients will pay fines for offences which they have not committed. “Now this company is trying to absolve itself from any responsibility although it made a mistake…such problems normally do not happen with major car rent firms in Dubai and other emirates as they abide by the rules and ensure enough protection.”

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