How fed-up tradie has been hit with $1200 in traffic fines for a black Audi he doesn’t even own after a bungle by his phone company
- Chris Lanting fined $1200 for offences says he didn’t do
- Black Audi caught speeding, running a red light not his
- Says driver palmed off fines with his info from Optus breach
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A tradie has been slapped with three traffic fines for a car that’s not his and he believes a telco data leak is the reason.
Chris Lanting was suspicious when he received $1200 in fines in the mail, one for speeding and two for running a run light.
But the offences had been committed by a driver in a black Audi – a car he does not own and says he’s never gone near.
The Melbourne man believes a stranger has passed their fines on to him as a result of his details being leaked in the Optus data breach.
Speaking to A Current Affair, Mr Lanting said he doesn’t know the man who nominated him as the responsible driver for all three cases.
‘I do not know this person. I’ve never never heard the name before,’ he said.
The Audi was first captured speeding on January 3 around 8.30pm on Western Ring Road and North and Boundary Road in Laverton, an hour from the tradie’s home.
Eight hours later, the vehicle was photographed running a red light around 4am on City Road and Montague Street in South Melbourne.
The third offence was on January 11, with the Audi running another red light in Collingwood when Mr Lanting and his family were on holiday.
The black Audi (pictured) got caught with one speeding fine and two offences for running a red light
Mr Lanting is adamant he wasn’t anywhere near where the offences were committed, and said he has photos to prove he was away from January 2 to January 12 in north east Victoria.
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‘I would have been tucked asleep in the caravan,’ he added.
In Victoria, infringement notices can be passed off to someone else if the original recipient gives another person’s name, address and licence number.
In October last year, Mr Lanting was one of the 11 million Australians affected by Optus’ data breach – which he believes is how the mystery Audi driver got his information.
‘I was part of the breach and the details that were hacked,’ Lanting said.
He added he can’t be for sure if the telco hack was how the driver had his details but wanted to share his story so others are aware of the risks.
The tradie believes the mystery driver may have gotten his information as a result of the Optus data leak last year (pictured, stock image)
Nominating someone else to cop the brunt of a fine is illegal, Lawyer Justin Lawrence, from Henderson and Ball Lawyers said.
‘If you fill out the form and you falsely nominate someone who wasn’t the driver, you can lose your license and you can be fined up to $9000.’
‘It’s a direct offence against the roads act,’ Lawrence added.
The lawyer said the driver nomination form needs to change to avoid these situations.
‘As a driver you can nominate anyone you want in your place for a fine,’ he said.
‘You can say it’s them, with their address, sign off and away you go and the person will often have no knowledge that it was them.’
Mr Lanting has been advised by police to make a statutory declaration to begin the process of clearing his name.
