‘Licences sold’ for up to $35

Press, 27 September 1988, Page 1

‘Licences sold’ for up to $35

PA Auckland Lifetime driving licences were sold for between $5.50 and $35 at the Transport Ministry’s Mount Roskill office, says a woman suspended in an investigation into corrupt practices. But the woman said she often gave the $27.50 licences away free to people she knew, pensioners and unemployed people who could not afford to renew them. The woman is one of two civilian staff suspended at the office since police began investigating allegations that licences were being sold illegally. Another worker resigned after the inquiry began. The woman was on contract to the Ministry while lifetime licences were being processed, and said yesterday she did not think her action was serious. “It wouldn’t really hurt anyone and it hasn’t,” she said. Northern regional transport secretary, Mr Stewart Mile, said the .Mount Roskill office was the only one under police investigation, although other branches would be checked.