Judgment by Berlin court – man loses his driver’s license because of 150 wrong parking spots

A driver who commits more than 150 parking violations in a year is unfit to drive and his license may be revoked. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Berlin in a judgment that became known on Monday (Az. VG 4 K 456/21). It thus rejected the man’s complaint against the revocation of his driving license by the State Office for Civil and Regulatory Affairs.

According to the court, the office learned in July 2021 that 174 proceedings for traffic offenses had been conducted against the man within a year. These included 159 parking violations and 15 speeding violations. After hearing the plaintiff, the authorities revoked his driver’s license. Against this he objected that the violations with three vehicles registered to him had been committed by other people. He is professionally dependent on the driver’s license.

Doubts about the suitability of the plaintiff: notorious parking offenders must submit the certificate

The administrative court did not accept this. The authority rightly assumed that the plaintiff was unsuitable. It is true that minor violations in road traffic should generally not be taken into account when assessing fitness to drive. This is different, however, if a driver is “obviously unwilling” to observe certain regulations in the interest of orderly traffic. Here, the number of violations, almost all of which were committed in the residential area, gives rise to doubts about the suitability of the plaintiff.

It is also not important whether family members are responsible for the violations. Whoever learns from numerous fine notices that people who use their vehicle continuously violate traffic regulations and do nothing about it, show “character defects”. These identified him as an unsuitable road user.

An application for approval of an appeal against the judgment can be filed with the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg.