Aussie mum without driver's licence or car fined 'thousands' in traffic offences

An Aussie mum who has been fined thousands of dollars for more than dozen different road offences, despite not owning a car nor holding a valid driver's licence, has vowed to prove her innocence.

Victorian woman Tamara, 32, said she's been sent a whole host of different infringements in the mail — 16 in total and incredibly, 14 that relate to different number plates.

Tamara said the ongoing saga has badly impacted her mental health and in some cases, where Road Safety Camera images show the offending driver, she said it's abundantly clear it's not her behind the wheel, nor is it even a woman.

The exasperated mother said "it doesn't make sense" and "it doesn't add up", and has called on both the police and road officials in the state to overhaul the system to prevent other people from ending up in a similar situation.

The incorrect fines have been sent to Tamara from as far as back as 2022.

Mum's quest to clear her name amid two-year ordeal

The bewildered mum believes her predicament may be the result of having her expired licence number compromised during Optus' devastating cyber breach in 2022.

"Clearly, I don't have a beard. The person in the picture is a male. Anyone with eyes can see it's not me," Tamara told A Current Affair.

Lawyer Justin Lawrence agrees with the 32-year-old. "There is a system glitch there somewhere and she's entitled to challenge those fines. The system relies on the information that it has. If the information is inaccurate, then the system can't work," he said.

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It's understood after being made aware of the situation, police are now working with Fines Victoria to "investigate the circumstances" around these incidents and "resolve these matters".

Aussies challenge 'fraudulent' fines in Victoria

It's not the first time this issue has reared its head in the state.

Earlier this month Yahoo News reported on a NSW man who was desperately trying to prove his innocence after losing his driver's licence and later receiving 14 traffic offences, all of which he denies were his doing.

In that case, he believed he was fraudulently nominated for $7000 in driving offences that were all clocked in Victoria, despite the fact he lives in NSW. "I haven't been in Victoria in the last five years and I haven't driven a vehicle in Victoria in the last five years," he said.

After reportedly speaking to seven different organisations, including VicRoads and Revenue NSW, as well as filing police reports and a statutory declaration, he is still no further forward in clearing his name or knowing when he will get his licence back.

Crackdown on drivers falsely nominating others

Infringement notices are sent straight to the registered operator of a vehicle but sometimes the person responsible for the offence is another driver, meaning a declaration is required to correctly shift liability.

In Victoria, this process involves filling out an online form or completing the back of the physical infringement notice with personal details of the driver responsible, such as their full name, date of birth, licence number and home address.

It's an open secret that some drivers have tried to monetise the false declaration system, with people offering themselves to be falsely declared and cop another's driving offence in exchange for cash. This is often done to dodge demerit points attached to an offence and online platforms, most notably Facebook Marketplace, are full of easily searchable advertisements.

Falsely nominating drivers is illegal and if caught, Victorian drivers can be fined up to $9,000, while drivers in NSW and Queensland can cop a maximum penalty of $11,000.

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