(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
Prawo Jazdy: Identity of Ireland's most notorious driver uncovered

Prawo Jazdy: Identity of Ireland's most notorious driver uncovered

The identity of Ireland's most notorious motorist has been uncovered, after Police realised they were recording Prawo Jazdy – the Polish term for driving licence – instead of the offender's name for more than 50 different Poles.

Polish driving license: Prawo Jazdy: Identity of Ireland's most notorious driver uncovered
Prawo Jazdy, the Polish term for driving licence

Prawo Jazdy was presumed to be one man who had somehow managed to evade the law while repeatedly speeding and clocking up parking fines across the Republic.

However, when police took a closer look, they realised that the "name" was actually Polish for driving licence.

The term had been mistaken as the name of the driver by dozens of officers.

It led police to believe that they had a serial offender on their hands who had managed to keep reoffending.

In fact, Prawo Jazdy was not one man, but the name given to many different Polish drivers after the police blunder.

An internal police memo printed in Irish papers on Thursday said officers taking details of Polish traffic offenders had been mistakenly using "Prawo Jazdy", printed in the top right corner of the driving licence, as the holder's name.

The memo, dated June 2007, said: "Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence. It is quite embarrassing to see the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."

A police spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

About 200,000 Polish people flocked to Ireland during the boom years of its "Celtic Tiger" economy but a poll in November indicated a third of them planned to leave due to recession.