Pensioner Kelvin lost his wallet on a bus. Soon he had a $20,000 bill
- Victorian pensioner lost his driver’s licence on a bus
- He claims it was ‘shopped around’ to use for traffic fines
- READ MORE: Perth fraudster accused of scamming $2.5million
A Victorian pensioner has been hit with more than $20,000 in fines after he claims a group of people falsely nominated him for their driving penalties.
Kelvin Bellette lost his wallet on a bus in the Mornington Peninsula in 2021 and, after reporting it to police, got it back minus his driver’s licence.
Since then the disability pensioner and part-time pizza delivery driver has been hit with 60 driving fines from the area, only four of which are his, he says.
Mr Bellette moved to Colac, a three-hour drive west of the Mornington Peninsula, in early 2023 and received a fine for an offence in that area later that year.
He hired Colac lawyer Tony Pyrtz who sought a photo linked to the offence that showed a person, clearly not Mr Bellette, behind the wheel.
‘It looks like his name has been shopped around the district down on the Mornington Peninsula to nominate him as a driver,’ Mr Pyrtz told the ABC.
Kelvin Bellette lost his driver’s licence on a Mornington Peninsula bus and claims it was ‘shopped around’ for people to nominate him for driving fines
The driving infringements include for speeding, driving without a seatbelt 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 the people who nominated him as the driver for infringement notices.
The list shows seven different individuals, driving different vehicles, nominated him as the driver, with one person doing so for three different offences.
A Mornington Peninsula trades business also nominated him for eight different offences.
‘Kelvin has never owned or been in any of these vehicles, and he doesn’t know any of the people who nominated him as the responsible driver,’ Mr Pyrtz said.
A very confused Mr Bellette entered into a payment plan to chip away at the massive debt, and only uncovered what appears to have happened with Mr Pyrtz’s help.
Under Victorian law knowingly providing false or misleading information in a nomination statement is an offence.
Penalties of $9,000 and potential loss of licence apply in each case for an individual, while a business can be fined $18,000 in each case.
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