Max Werring was looking forward to his first summer where could drive.
Instead, the Surrey teenager is in the middle of a bureaucratic battle with ICBC, which has stripped him of his learner’s license, given him a four-month prohibition for reapplying, and is forcing him to pay hundreds of dollars for a license reinstatement fee.
The reason? A minor infraction when he was driving an electric bicycle. When he was 14.
“We all did things when were 14,” said John Werring, his father.
“The court actually said don’t worry, it’s not going to affect you, and now it’s affecting him. I do not understand why saner heads can not prevail.”
At issue is an incident in early 2015, when he failed to stop at a stop sign while driving his yellow cycle from school. He was given a traffic ticket with fines totaling almost $700.
The family took the matter to Richmond Traffic Court, where the fine was reduced to $25. They thought the matter was closed, and Max passed a written test to receive his learner’s licence.
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But in March, the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles gave him a prohibition, allegedly because of driving points ICBC gave him for the cycling infraction – points the family said they were unaware of.
“It’s shocking, and I feel almost cheated by ICBC that it’s still following me, and I’m going to have to restart my graduated licensing program.”
An ICBC spokesperson told Global News they couldn’t comment on a private matter, but that driving prohibitions can only be issued by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, who didn’t respond to a request for information today.
Adrian Dix, the NDP’s critic for ICBC, says in this case, the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime.
“It seems that the mistake for which the young man was punished is disconnected from the suspension. The punishment he’s getting doesn’t fit the infraction he committed,” he says.
“If you make serious mistakes while driving when you have your license, you would think the suspensions would be longer than…the suspension for this.”
As for Max? While he and his family will continue to fight to get the prohibition stripped and the fines removed, he knows that a resolution isn’t likely to come for months. But he’s hopeful other young people don’t have to go through the same battle.
“Even if this isn’t fixed for me, I hope this doesn’t happen in the future to other people,” he says.
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