A Victorian pensioner has been hit with more than $20,000 in fines after claiming a group of people falsely nominated him for their driving sanctions.
Kelvin Bellette lost his wallet on a bus on the Mornington Peninsula in 2021 and, after reporting it to the police, recovered it without his driving license.
Since then, the disability retiree and part-time pizza delivery driver has received 60 traffic tickets from the area, only four of which are his, he says.
Bellette moved to Colac, a three-hour drive west of the Mornington Peninsula, in early 2023 and was fined for an offense in that area later that year.
He hired Colac’s attorney, Tony Pyrtz, who searched for a photograph related to the crime that showed a person, clearly not Mr. Bellette, behind the wheel.
“It appears his name has been circulated around the Mornington Peninsula district to appoint him driver,” Mr Pyrtz told the ABC.
Kelvin Bellette lost his driving license on a Mornington Peninsula bus and claims it was “bought” to get people to nominate him for driving tickets.
Traffic violations include speeding, driving without a seat belt, and driving unregistered vehicles in a toll zone.
“He’s been in a spiral of dealing with fines that aren’t his,” Mr. Pyrtz said.
Fines Victoria has since provided Mr Bellette’s lawyer with a list of people who nominated him as a driver for infringement notices.
The list shows that seven different people, driving different vehicles, nominated him as a driver, and one person did so for three different crimes.
A Mornington Peninsula trading company also nominated him for eight different offences.
“Kelvin has never owned or been in any of these vehicles, and he does not know any of the people who designated him as the responsible driver,” Mr. Pyrtz said.
A very confused Bellette began a payment plan to reduce the enormous debt and only discovered what appears to have happened with the help of Pyrtz.
Under Victorian law, knowingly providing false or misleading information in a nomination statement is an offence.
Penalties of $9,000 and possible loss of license apply in each case for an individual, while a business can be fined $18,000 in each case.