Oz motorists' bizarre excuses to wave off speeding fine

Melbourne, Feb 2 (ANI): Can you think of speeding up your vehicles just because your shoes were too heavy? Well, this was one of the excuses made by an Aussie woman who tried to get out of paying a fine and actually pulled it off successfully.

Latest figures from the NSW State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO) have revealed that about one in 10 motorists penalised for an offence appeals to authorities for gaining an exemption.

It was found that last year, 220,000 out of 2.5 million fines processed by the department requested for the offence to be waived.And 41,000 motorists out of the total appeals had their fines withdrawn with a caution issued.

One strange request was from a man who claimed he put his foot down after a bee flew into the car.

There was another motorist, who blamed his mother-in-law's nagging for exceeding the speed limit, saying she was complaining about being late to a function.

A driver, who was fined for parking in the wrong direction, claimed he had simply followed the arrow on a parking sign.

And another fined for stopping in a 'No Stopping' zone said that he had to let his dog out to relieve itself.

One motorist, who was held for over-speeding in a tunnel, claimed that he was driving fast as the fumes were making him feel ill.

And very often, people used medical injuries as an excuse for breaking the law.

One woman fined for putting her foot up on the seat of a train claimed she had an ankle injury, but when medically examined, she was found to have the injury on the other foot.

However, the most common excuse given related to the wrong car being identified. Drivers also claimed the car had been stolen at the time of the offence.

But it was under SDRO review guidelines to decide which motorists will receive an exemption, according to the excuses they provided.

NSW Office of State Revenue executive director Tony Newbury said that the people who felt they had been wrongly fined should check the guidelines to determine whether they were eligible for an exemption. (ANI)