On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 13:04:26 +0900, "mr.sumo.snr"
<llanelli14NOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote:

>It's ask a question of the masses 'coz someone I know has been a moron time
>again - we've had quite a few of these recently - let the insults fly!  They
>can't be any worse than the flaming I gave to two individuals in question
>last night.
>
>23-year English teacher stopped by the police last night on a 'failure to
>yield at a stop sign' was driving WITHOUT his international driver's permit
>(IDP).  He doesn't have one! He doesn't even have his UKland license with
>him (it's in the mail prior to applying for a Japanese license).  So he
>tells the coppers he DOES have an IDP and is told to go off to his apartment
>and bring it directly to the police station.  Forty minutes later he turns
>up without any license whatsoever.  Of course his Japanese boss is called
>(at about 11.30 last night) and they are both expected at the police station
>on Tuesday to explain the whole situation.
>
>At that time he SHOULD at least have his UKland drivers' license to show
>that he does have the ability to drive a car.  So anyone have any rough idea
>what sort of fines the guy is looking at? No alcohol was involved.  He was
>driving with his gaijin girlfriend who does have an IDP and whose car it was
>but she was flaked out after attending her school's sports day, so that's
>why he decided to drive.
>
>Do you think we're looking at a sacking-level offense here?

From my personal experience with this sort of thing:

I was denied even APPLYING for a "kirikae" from my American driver's
license because of inconsistencies with reentry stamps in my passport
I continued driving on one year IDPs for some years. The problem is I
eventually got stopped for speeding and due to new, more stringent
checks on IDPs they actually checked the expire date on it (they used
to just look at cursorily with confused looks and hand it back) and
found out it was a few months stale. This led to an INCREDIBLE hassle
at the police station. First of all the cops had to drive me in my car
to the station since I was effectively an unlicensed driver with my
expired IDP and then they sat me behind a desk for some hours
lecturing me while they considered what to do. They explained all of
the expensive fines that Mike Cash posted for you but I was SO
apologetic and demure that eventually they let me go with just a stern
warning.

Since I had to drive to do my job after a few days I went back to
driving again and had no problems until about a year later when I was
stopped again for a traffic violation. I still don't know how I did it
but I managed to be contrite enough that they let me off AGAIN without
a fine and with a VERY severe warning. They made it clear that if they
ever stopped me driving in Japan without a valid license again they
would hit me with the full penalty of the law. 

After that I flooded the menkyo center with enough paperwork from the
state of New Jersey showing that I was in fact a legally licensed
driver there that they finally acquiesced and allowed me to take the
test for the kirikae license. 

I agree with the advice of others that your friend should try to prove
that he was not without a license but simply not in physical
possession of his license at the time he was stopped. I was told by
the cops down here that both are considered mu-menkyo however.

Something else regarding IDPs: the government is cracking down on them
and especially the notion that they are for one year, single time use
only for travellers. Thus, the cops told ME that even if I went back
to New Jersey personally and got a new permit it would be invalid
since I have been a resident in Japan for 10 years now. They said the
ONLY way I can continue driving is if I get a Japanese driver's
license so that's what I did. Like I said, I have to drive to make a
living.

I really don't have much sympathy for your friend though since if he's
a licensed UK driver he doesn't even have to take the Japanese road
test. How the hell could he be living in Japan for 23 years without
making the trip to the Menkyo Center to switch over?! Or did "23-year
English teacher" mean 23-years old? :-D

Either way the switch is a piece of cake for Brits.

Raj