[DNM]

This thread is just a simple example revealing the truth about the RTO and how bad they are at tracking stuff!

Recently, I was at one of the suburban railway stations and I was pick-pocketed.
I lost 4k worth of cash and my driving licence.
I was unhappy that I lost my driving licence. I really did not care about the money.

After reporting this incident to the RTO, I received a new licence within 3 weeks.
The incident was forgotten and I carried on with my life, being a little more careful at Railway stations with my belongings.

About 2 weeks back, I received a letter to my residence from the RTO.
It read:
“Dear *****,
You have been caught for rash-driving by a traffic-policeman in ‘JUHU’, and have been charged Rs. 400/- as fine charges.
If any other rules are broken by you, along with your licence, you will be penalized for the same.”

I was shocked after reading the letter!
I am a very humble driver and I have never even dreamt of driving rashly!
I have been caught by the policeman only once for talking over the phone while driving!

I had to inquire about this immediately, but I was stuck with work for about 3 days.
Just after that, I went to the nearby RTO office.
There, I had to explain the same thing again and again that I never was driving rashly and was neither caught for the same!
A few officers laughed at me and mocked saying that I have memory loss and that I cant remember what happened with me!

I was furious at them, but I still controlled myself, because here, I was the one who needed them

After wasting a whole day at the RTO, I finally got a chance to have a talk with the head officer.
I went inside is cabin.
HO- Namashkar sahib, what happened?
Me- See, I received a letter from you that I was caught driving rashly in JUHU and that I was charged Rs.400/- for the same.
HO- Okay, so whats the problem?
Me- Sir, I was never caught by the policeman at all! Im sure it’s to address someone else and not me!
HO- Haha! How is that possible sir? Every licence has its own DL Number. Im sure the policeman would have noted down your DL Number and then would have reported it to us, which made us send the warning letter!
Me- Sir, I was not there at all! In fact, I was busy with work in town! I wasn’t even there in JUHU.
HO- Show me your licence.
Me- here. (I removed my licence and showed it to him)
HO- The licence feels new! Did you renew it recently?
Me- No sir! I had lost my wallet, including my licence, so I had to get a new one done.
HO- Lost it? Where?
Me- I was at the Railway station, when I realized that I didn’t have my wallet in the pocket! Someone must have pick-pocketed me sir!
HO- Pick-pocketed? Okay! Sir, I think the pick-pocket who stoly your wallet has your old licence and is using it now.
Me- Huh? How is that possible? The licence has our name printed and our photograph affixed, right?
HO- Yes, sir. But one can stick a picture over your picture and laminate it right?

Me- You mean, the person who had my licence, or has it even now, was the one who was caught driving rashly at JUHU? And since my address is stored in your PC under my DL Number, you sent it to me?
HO- Exactly sir.
Me- Now what can be done?
HO- Sir, we cannot track the licence right now. But, we can wait for that person to the break the law again. We can then catch hold of him when he shows your licence as his!
Me- But Mumbai is such a huge city! He could be anywhere!
HO- Sir, if that person was driving fast in JUHU, im sure he would be knowing the roads well, which makes him confident to go fast? He must be a resident of JUHU or some other suburb nearby!
Me- Okay, please do that!
HO- Yes sir. You can go home now. I will call you by tomorrow if I get any more details.

2 days later, I got a call for the officer.
Me- Hello?
HO- Namashkar sir. Im *******, Head officer of RTO. We have received information about your licence.
Me- Really? What is it?
HO- Sir, the person who has your licence was caught at about 7.35p.m. by our inspector, Mr. ********. He was driving a Red colored, Hyundai Santro.
Me- So have you caught the culprit?
HO- Haha! Sir, we have just received this information from your driving licence log. We do not know who the person is, how does he look, whats his real name, and other details! We will work on it and get back to you soon!
Me- Alright, I hope you come to know who it is.
HO- Yes sir, Jai Hind.
Me- Thank you. Jai Hind.


This is all that I have known about the incident. I will keep updating you all as to what I come to know.

[DMehta]

its really disappointing. I hope you come to know who the real culprit is, do keep us updated.
But they dont normally send a warning letter at your place for a fine of Rs. 400. How come they had it sent to you?

[DNM]

i do not know. I wasnt there in the car when it happened!
as i told you, it wasnt me at all!!!

[MileCruncher]

This is scary!

But doesn't the RTO cancel the old licence number while issuing new one especially one that is lost.

But I like the idea of RTO sending out a warning letter. Good to know that they are tracking driving behaviour of a person.

[kaushikr]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

But doesn't the RTO cancel the old licence number while issuing new one especially one that is lost.

+1

The letter sent out to you by RTO, does it mention the license number. If so you could check to see if that is the new license number or the old one ?

[DNM]

I have no idea what procedures these guys follow! I have never experienced such a thing before!
I will surely ask them about this sometime.

[NetfreakBombay]

This is a standard procedure now. License is kept at local traffic police station for 4 working days, and you can collect it by paying the fine.

After that, it moves to district level (Bandra for suburban district and Mumbai of city) and police sends a warning leter before depositing it in court.

[DNM]

No! It did not mention anything! It just said the same thing i posted in the story and was addressed to me! I dont think they mention the licence number on the letter, do they?
And plus, I was totally freaked out after recieving the letter, that i really did not bother noticing on such thing.
The letter is currently at my dad's office. I'll try getting it as soon as possible and let you all know.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

This is a standard procedure now. License is kept at local traffic police station for 4 working days, and you can collect it by paying the fine.

After that, it moves to district level (Bandra for suburban district and Mumbai of city) and police sends a warning leter before depositing it in court.

I do not know about the standard procedure of the traffic police station, but i still think that the licence is with the person.
The HO didnt mention anything related to the licence being kept at the station for 4 working days. if it had, they would have known who it really is.
I guess the person paid the fine at the place where he was caught, and probably the policeman informed the DL Number to the RTO immediately.
I really dont know as to what really happened. I will extract more information and keep you all updated!

[moralfibre]

We had hired a Chevy Tavera to tour Konkan in Jan'11. While on the trip, it was common for a Yellow plate taxi to be pulled over at Forest outposts and other border check posts. I used to always accompany the driver armed with a camera just so as to scare these thugs who demand a bribe to let go even though all docs were clear.

At one such checkpost around Vengurla, Sindhudurg, the driver produced his license to the checkpost officer. I glanced at it and found it was a little weird. After the formalities, we got back into the car and I asked the driver to show me his license (the new credit card type with a Red header and sim card type chip). To my surprise, it was a photocopied, laminated license and did not resemble the original at all. The colour scanned copy had a lighter shade of Red, was printed on paper that was wrapped around a card and stuck. Wonder how the officers never caught it.

The driver explains that due to his profession, he had to ensure that he does not lose his license to these un-authorized forest checkposts who demand money each time. He goes further to explain that these border outposts have no authority to check a drivers license or any documents pertaining to vehicle registration, etc.

Its funny how technology is introduced to curb crime and mandatory training for such implementations is never carried out!

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by DNM

I do not know about the standard procedure of the traffic police station, but i still think that the licence is with the person.
The HO didnt mention anything related to the licence being kept at the station for 4 working days.

Please do post more details once you have it. AFAIK, they can not collect fines on the spot and have to confiscate the license. We have to pay the fine and collect the license from nearest post in 4 days.

[DNM]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

We had hired a Chevy Tavera to tour Konkan in Jan'11. While on the trip, it was common for a Yellow plate taxi to be pulled over at Forest outposts and other border check posts. I used to always accompany the driver armed with a camera just so as to scare these thugs who demand a bribe to let go even though all docs were clear.

At one such checkpost around Vengurla, Sindhudurg, the driver produced his license to the checkpost officer. I glanced at it and found it was a little weird. After the formalities, we got back into the car and I asked the driver to show me his license (the new credit card type with a Red header and sim card type chip). To my surprise, it was a photocopied, laminated license and did not resemble the original at all. The colour scanned copy had a lighter shade of Red, was printed on paper that was wrapped around a card and stuck. Wonder how the officers never caught it.



The driver explains that due to his profession, he had to ensure that he does not lose his license to these un-authorized forest checkposts who demand money each time. He goes further to explain that these border outposts have no authority to check a drivers license or any documents pertaining to vehicle registration, etc.

Its funny how technology is introduced to curb crime and mandatory training for such implementations is never carried out!

Oh my god! I dont believe!
it was a paper stuck on a card? did it have the same simcard chip over it, the same one as we have?
but yes, such small areas and districts in India are places where people barely have licences, but professionalize as driver!
I have a cousin in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and he has been driving ever since he was in grade 6! and he freely drives on the main road, when the policeman is standing at the signal! Nobody really cares in such small towns and cities, but this is one reason why there are so many accidents in India!

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Please do post more details once you have it. AFAIK, they can not collect fines on the spot and have to confiscate the license. We have to pay the fine and collect the license from nearest post in 4 days.

As i said earlier, i have no clue about what the policeman did there, NetfreakBombay!
Yes, i will post more details once i get them..

[DMehta]

Whats strange is that how come the police did not collect the money on the spot if the person is caught. I have never heard RTO sending a receipt or some sort of warning at the person's residence.
Might be a new thing introduced. Which is pretty good for avoiding scams like these. But this also shows how inefficient the traffic police system is.

[DNM]

yes DMehta!
It really happened! No, i have heard of incidence of the similar sort earlier too of people receiving letters at their residence for the same!

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

To my surprise, it was a photocopied, laminated license and did not resemble the original at all. The colour scanned copy had a lighter shade of Red, was printed on paper that was wrapped around a card and stuck. Wonder how the officers never caught it.

This is a very common thing. Since my licence is not the smart card variety, I also carry the photocopied, laminated version of licence in the city and only when travelling out of town do I carry the original. I have been stopped a lot of places and I have always show the duplicate. Police also know it and don't say anything.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by DNM

Oh my god! I dont believe!
it was a paper stuck on a card? did it have the same simcard chip over it, the same one as we have?

No, that portion was yellowish due to the colour scan. And that is the reason it first caught my eye.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

This is a very common thing. Since my licence is not the smart card variety, I also carry the photocopied, laminated version of licence in the city and only when travelling out of town do I carry the original. I have been stopped a lot of places and I have always show the duplicate. Police also know it and don't say anything.

Surprising.