There was a minor road accident in Marcilla, (Navarra) on the 10th of this month; one of the parties involved was a judge, who, amongst other affairs, deals with traffic-accident cases.

Anybody can be involved in a road accident and in many cases through no fault of their own, but the judge, in this case, had no valid driving licence – oops!

In fact, not only did she not have a valid licence, but in all her 55 years of age had she ever held a full, Spanish driving licence – in other words she had been driving around for years without one.

Well, that’s not entirely true; she does possess a Spanish moped licence. No, what she waved optimistically at the Guardia Civil officer who was writing out a ticket was an American one, which sadly for her is not valid in Spain. Probably because in the States they give them out in exchange for Coca-Cola lids and where most drivers have never seen a roundabout in their lives.

She had tried to get the American licence exchanged for a Spanish one back in the 90’s but the DGT clerk had just rolled his eyes and handed it back to her. His advice: take a Spanish driving test.

Now facing a magnificent fine she claims that the RACE (the Spanish equivalent of RAC) had told her that, yes, she could use it to drive in Spain. You cannot drive on a US driving licence, as the RACE has since pointed out.

She is now facing a suspended jail term of between three and six months and a fine or a few months of community work. There is also the fact that her car insurance was not valid at the time of the accident: no licence; invalidated insurance coverage.

Editorial comment: Had a person been brought before her under the same circumstances, she would have probably thrown the book at him or her.

(News: Marcilla, Navarra)