Klao Bell photo
A copy of a fake Certificate of Fitness where all the information was changed and the signature of the traffic authority representative forged.Klao Bell, Staff Reporter
Some robot taxi and minibus operators have taken their illicit operations to another level of unlawfulness.
They are carrying around with them fake drivers' licences, fake insurance cover notes and fake Certificates of Fitness, baffling the police, insurance agents and inspectors at motor vehicle inspection depots who are often unable to tell the difference between the fake papers and the real thing.
An inspector at the Swallowfield examination depot had to do a double-take one day when a Certificate of Fitness was presented to him with what looked like his signature.
"Many fake certificates come in here, just last week we had to call the police to arrest someone. We can identify them because there is usually something wrong, either signature, dates, series number or something. In some cases they managed to change all the information except the examiner's signature. We have to be very alert," explained John Bardowell, senior officer at Swallowfield.
Stafford Grant, a robot taxi operator was fined $10,000 in Traffic Court last week when he unwittingly presented his fake driver's licence at the Traffic Department on Elletson Road.
The last name of the signature under the photograph was spelt differently from the script on the right, security features were absent, the quality of the paper was poor and the colour lighter than that of the authentic licence.
"We encounter fake licences frequently - almost one in every 10 cars, usually among robot operators in the Papine, downtown, Half-Way Tree, Rollington Town and Vineyard Town areas," said Corporal Canute Nairne, traffic officer at the Papine Police Station.
He added that, "In the last three months we have had about 20 arrests. Even the new licences are reproduced and sometimes police officers don't even recognise them."
Corporal Nairne said the persons who purchase fake licences are often illiterate and would not qualify for a legitimate licence.
They are successfully passing them off on unsuspecting persons with whom they meet in accidents, the police say.
According to Sergeant Hubert Dennis of the Traffic Depar-tment, "Use of fake cover notes is quite prevalent. Often a fake note is not detected until way into the investigation of an accident when insurance companies realise that the certificate number is not in keeping with the series they are using," Sgt. Dennis said.
The officer said at least one person is arrested every month, usually minibus drivers. They are charged for fraudulent use of insurance, which carries a fine of $2,000.
Sgt. Dennis said United General Insurance Company was among the cover notes that are commonly used.
Margaret Senior, underwriting manager at Jamaica General Insurance Company said use of fake cover notes was at one time common.
"We used to get them almost every other day. They used correcting fluid to wipe out the details, type in false information. They also duplicated our stamps. It was big business on the street but it doesn't occur as often anymore," Ms. Senior said.
Some robot taxi operators and bus drivers in downtown Kingston claimed that while they may "buy a licence" they wouldn't "deal with the fraud insurance thing."
The police say it is difficult to get to the core of these fraudulent activities as guilty persons are very protective of their sources. Sgt. Dennis also said members of the force need to be educated on how to identify false documents.
