Reckless Dubai driver racks up Dh240,000 in traffic fines during two-week period

DUBAI // A rental car company has been left with a Dh240,000 bill after a customer racked up 170 traffic offences on a 4x4 vehicle during a two-week speeding frenzy.

"In my 15 years in the business I have never seen anything remotely like it," said Mohannad Al Hassan, manager of Damas, the Dubai-based car rental company which rented out the Range Rover.

Within the first 12 hours of receiving the luxury vehicle, the 27-year-old Emirati customer received 14 speeding fines.

Due to the severity of the fines the car would have to be impounded for more than four years.

Mr Al Hassan believes the customer must have been driving past speed radars at more than 200kph.

"If I had known about these fines sooner I would have tracked down the car much earlier."

It took two weeks for Mr Al Hassan to learn about the first three fines after which he decided to take action.

Using a tracking device, he located the car in Al Ain and found it had been involved in a crash that caused Dh40,000 worth of damage.

Only after recovering the vehicle did Mr Al Hassan start to realise the true amount of fines accrued.

"I began receiving the fines one after the other and they kept coming - I even got one last Wednesday although I took the car back over three weeks ago."

After failing to get back the fines from the customer and his family, he took his case to the Muraqabat police station where authorities referred him to the traffic department. He was advised to take the case to the courts.

"Even if I sell the car it won't cover the cost of the financial damage that has been done.

"This man should be prosecuted as his reckless driving may have caused serious harm to others on the road."

tsubaihi@thenational.ae

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Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.

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