Dubai: A jobless woman, who forged a Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) parking ticket that she displayed on her car’s dashboard in a paid parking zone, was jailed for three months.
In June 2016, an RTA inspector was examining cars parked in a paid zone in Al Nahda when he saw a parking ticket on a vehicle. Suspecting that the ticket could be tampered with, once the inspector double-checked it on his hand device, he realised that the ticket was forged.
He reported the matter to his supervisor and Dubai Police.
Primary police investigation revealed that a 25-year-old German woman was the car owner.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the German defendant of forging the RTA ticket by altering it from May to June 2016.
The German defendant, who was sentenced in absentia, has the right to surrender herself and request a retrial as per the UAE’s Criminal Procedures Law.
Records did not mention why the case, which dates back to 2016, was referred to court in 2018.
The Jordanian inspector said he was checking cars parked in a paid zone when he suspected the authenticity of a ticket displayed in a car.
“The dates mentioned on the RTA ticket read June but it was obvious that it had been tampered with. I double-checked the date and the ticket’s reference number that showed on the special device that it was valid for May 2016 … it was invalid for June. The tampering with had happened with the use of a black ink,” he testified.
The German woman admitted to prosecutors that she bought the ticket in May 2016 and changed the printed dates by overwriting on them to make it seem like June 2016.
She was cited as telling prosecutors that she altered the date so she would be able to park for free and evade a fine.
