Dubai: A salesman, who forged a season parking ticket issued by the Roads and Transport Authority [RTA] with a stylographic pen, was handed a suspended jail sentence.

An RTA parking inspector inspecting a paid parking zone in Al Barsha reported the incident to his superiors after coming across a seasonal parking ticket with a two-year validity placed on a car’s dashboard.

The inspector called up his director as he doubted the validity of the ticket, since the RTA issues season tickets valid only for 3, 6 and 12 months, and not 24 months as was shown on the ticket in question.

The incident happened in September 2016.

When informed by his director that the ticket’s validity was until 2015, the inspector issued a fine on the car and called up the police to check whether the ticket had been forged.

In the meantime, the 35-year-old Indian salesman came to his vehicle, removed the ticket, and tried to erase the tampered portion showing the expiration date.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 35-year-old of using the stylographic pen to forge the expiration date on the seasonal parking to reflect 2016 instead of 2015.

However, the presiding judge handed the defendant a three-month suspended jail term after the latter pleaded guilty and sought clemency.

According to the primary ruling, the court handed the defendant a suspended punishment on grounds of leniency.

The imprisonment will be suspended for three years during which the crime should not be repeated.

The inspector said he doubted the authenticity of the seasonal ticket once he saw that it had been issued in 2014.

“Such RTA tickets are issued with a maximum validity of one year. When my supervisor at work notified me that the ticket’s number was showing on the RTA system that it was valid until 2015, I realised that it was forged. Immediately I issued a ticket and posted it on the windshield … then I called the police. A police patrol came to the scene and they summoned the suspect. When I asked him why he had tampered with the dates, he avoided answering me. He seemed perplexed and hesitant; he tried to erase the obvious writing on the ticket. Police took him into custody,” the inspector told prosecutors.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 10 days.