Guilty of dishonestly accessing MVR
Waka Kotahi has successfully prosecuted a director of an inspecting organisation after he dishonestly accessed the motor vehicle register (MVR).
It is the first prosecution of its kind since the transport agency’s team for regulatory services safer vehicles team was established in 2019.
Aucklander Brett Wayne Robinson pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly accessing the MVR.
He misrepresented himself as a person qualified to carry out warrant of fitness (WOF) inspections and was sentenced to eight months’ home detention plus payment of various costs.
“Robinson was never appointed by Waka Kotahi as a vehicle inspector and was issuing WOFs using the details of a vehicle inspector who no longer worked at his inspecting organisation,” says Nicole Botherway, senior manager of safer vehicles.
“He issued over 900 WOFs. That’s more than 900 vehicle owners and their passengers, and anyone travelling on the same roads as these vehicles, who had their safety potentially put at risk.”
At the time of the initial investigation, Waka Kotahi revoked the inspecting organisation appointment held by Robinson and his business partner, and revoked all of the WOFs issued by Robinson. That meant owners had to get new warrants of fitness completed elsewhere.
Botherway says owners rely on vehicle inspectors to conduct inspections with integrity and be assured that a passed WOF means the vehicle is safe.
“We have appointed over 8,000 vehicle inspectors at more than 3,500 inspecting organisations,” she adds.
“The vast majority carry out inspections correctly. For their sake and for the public, it’s important we protect the integrity of the system and act when we do find fraudulent behaviour.”
The role of the transport agency’s safer vehicles team is to review inspection organisations and inspectors to check compliance. If serious non-compliance is found, the team has a range of tools to ensure the right regulatory response is applied, including enforcement.
“Since 2019, we’ve spent time building our team and capabilities, and putting in place a regulatory framework that’s firm and fair,” says Botherway. “We’re continuously reviewing and refreshing our approach to ensure we take the right action at the right time.”
