Sheriff nabs 48 for old offences

A LAVERTON company director with more than $80,000 in unpaid traffic fines had his driving licence and registration suspended after being caught during a blitz at Laverton North last week.

The Sheriff’s Office caught 48 drivers owing $358,000 in unpaid fines during the crackdown last Wednesday from 9am-4pm.

The director had 303 warrants issued against his name and his firm.

He had racked up 165 infringement warrants for $43,765.80, while his business had 138 infringement warrants for $36,249.50.

VicRoads was directed to suspend the man’s driver’s licence and vehicle registration.

Sixteen officers were involved in the roadblock operation at William Angliss Drive, which detected 48 people with 863 outstanding infringement notices among them.

Twenty four were notified that their licence or registration would be suspended unless payment was made within seven days.

The 24 were repeat offenders with 524 warrants worth nearly $160,000 among them.

Another 14 motorists paid 62 outstanding fines worth more than $16,000.

Victorian sheriff Brendan Facey said the most common fines were for toll defaulting and parking and traffic offences.

“As this operation shows, if you ignore your fines you will be caught,” he said.

“You are liable for your unpaid fines. New technology to identify offenders and more targeted blitzes mean the sheriff will find you.”