Coffee On My Key Board This Morning

[Ann Horsman]

Government Bureaucracy at its worst....

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Licence Takes Lotz of Patience
21/05/2008 19:10 - (SA)

Elsje Blair

Bloemfontein - "Sorry, but you don't have a fingerprint," an official at the traffic department told a woman who wanted to collect her renewed driver's licence.

Elsa Lotz, a pensioner, could not believe what happened to her on Monday when she went to pick up her renewed driver's licence at the traffic department after at least six months.

Lotz said: "I came to have my fingerprints taken for the first time last year for my licence renewal. I was told I could pick up the licence in March.

"When I went again in March to fetch it, an official said to me, 'Sorry, your application form and fingerprints were thrown away. We had too many applications for driver's licence renewals from October to December'.

Lotz was told: "We had to throw all the application forms away because it was too much work."

No luck with the licence

Lotz said she filled in an application form again in March, had her fingerprints taken again and paid again for the renewal.

She said she was quite excited finally to receive her long-awaited driver's licence on Monday.

But, there was no such luck.

"When I went to pick up my driver's licence on the first floor, the young lady behind the counter said to me, 'Sorry, but your application was rejected.'

"She said that my fingerprints 'do not exist' and that the grooves (friction ridges) on my fingers were gone!

"I wanted to burst out laughing because I was now invisible and without identity!"

"Your fingerprint is with you until death. I know they're talking rubbish. They're just looking for an excuse not to work.

"I play a lot of computer games, but surely the skin couldn't have come off from that.

"I can become a criminal now and rob banks because I won't leave behind any marks. No one will catch me," Lotz joked.

Burst into tears

Lotz said a young woman waiting behind her in the queue was also refused her licence for the same reason.

She said the official said exactly the same thing to the other woman.

Lotz said the woman burst into tears and told her that she didn't have money to apply again and walked away crying.

Lotz said the official told her that their next applications would be free.

Lotz is still without a renewed driver's licence.

[Thomas Taylor]

I see one possible solution for the state and one possible solution for Mrs. Lotz. For Mrs. Lotz, just keep driving. They can't prove a thing because your fingerprints won't be on the steering wheel. For the state, issue a generic "Jane Doe" license to all the women without fingerprints and a "John Doe" license to all the men. Then send their traffic tickets for payment to the idiot who decided not to issue licenses to people who "don't have fingerprints."