is there a link between oz & nz for licence information?

[GerryAttrick]

Does anyone know if there is a link between the NZ Transport dept and NSW RTA files.

Have a mate coming over from Oz for his honeymoon later this year - he has already arranged to ship his bike for a South Island Tour.

Just got pinged for 145kph in 100kph zone and faces loss of licence for 6 months...plus $1550 in fines.

He will have an International Driving Permit and his Oz licence which does not indicate the suspension but wondered what would happen if he got stopped and licence checked here. Do NZ authorities have links to Aussie records.

Normally he would do the time...but in this case he has paid to ship his bike over, it is his honeymoon and won't get his licence back until a couple of weeks after he gets back to Aussie.

Is thinking of maybe taking a punt here although he'll be off the road back in Oz. Hoepfully he can get to enjoy some proper roads.

He'll have an insurance problem but really does not want to have to do the trip in a camper van!!

[vifferman]

I guess you'd already done this Alan, but I had a look on hte (eminently useless) LTSA site, and couldn't find out anything about this.

[GerryAttrick]

Akshully I rang them...but could get no definitive reply. So at your suggestion I came to the Oracles!!

[Edbear]

Our resident boys in Blue will no doubt be able to shed some light on this, but so many times we hear of this type of problem. Unfortunately, breaking the law comes at a price and the worse the offence the higher the price. Punishments are almost invariably inconvenient and costly. Regrettably, we are sometimes held accountable for our actions and I find that taking consequences into account when considering a course of action has helped me avoid many such inconveniences.

[Macktheknife]

No link on International licences that I know of. He should be fine but he will need to be careful.

[ManDownUnder]

There is no link (officially anyway - and non ethat I know of) between the NZ and Oz agencies.

The one I'd be wary of is the info sharing introduced between immigration and the Dept of Justice. He steps into the country - his passport will make the immigration officer's screen light up like a Christmas tree and he may be introduced to the poo eating rubber glove puppet...

oh no - hang on... that's drug smuggling.

You get my point though
MDU

[Ixion]

As far as I am aware (IANAL- and it's a tricky point , so DO NOT RELY ON ANYTHING YOU READ HERE).

There is no real time link between the Oz and NZ police for licence checking.

So long as he has paid any fine owing for his Oz misdeamnour, immigration will not know or care what his drivers licence status is. (If he hasn't actually gone to court yet and been fined, that's OK too - he doesn't owe the fine yet)

Any cursory check by the police is *unlikely* to pick up the suspended status - after all he actually has an (apparently valid) Oz licence in his possession - and he's not Asian).

However , if he got picked up for something worse than mild speeding - eg dangerous driving, speed dangerous, DUI etc, then the situation is likely to be different. Only takes one phone call from a eager beaver copper to the Oz cop shop, and the proverbial hits the wozzname.

[Lou Girardin]

They don't flag passorts for disq drivers surely? Just flash the International permit and speak strine.

[GerryAttrick]

Thanks guys, pretty much what I thought the answer would be. Hell seems our gummint doesn't have much money for anything anymore so I'd be surprised if they had a link to drivers Licence info...unless it generated more money for their pay and pensions.