The Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne has stripped a man of his driving licence for the rest of his life. The driver was forced to hand in his residence permit and ID to the police for four separate offences and was convicted after ignoring court summons and lying to the emergency services.

Man has licence revoked after four convictions

According to Watson, a Federal Court filing last Monday revealed that authorities in Canton Bern had detained a man for overtaking on the hard shoulder while on a single-lane section of Swiss motorway. The incident, which occurred in December 2019, was the last straw for the police, as the man had already been temporarily suspended three times before.

After ignoring a summons to the prosecutors' office in December 2019, authorities withdrew his licence in March 2020. Police also fined the man a total of 700 Swiss francs for missing court. After he appealed, the case found its way to the Supreme Court in Canton Vaud.

Man uses a lack of legal training and knowledge of German in court defence

When at court, the man claimed that he had missed the previous hearings because he was not a lawyer and had not learnt German, so was unaware that he had to attend. He also claimed that his half-brother’s uncle, who, coincidentally, was in Switzerland at the time, was in fact the man behind the wheel, not him.

In her ruling, the judge rejected both parts of the man’s story, ruling that he had acted “against the principle of good faith” when denying he was responsible. The man has now had his driving licence taken away indefinitely.