BBC Report Licensing Scam Run by Orthodox Jewish Men

Disturbing" flaws in security in the issuing of UK driving licences to foreign nationals have been exposed by a BBC investigation.

Secret filming has uncovered how foreign drivers who would not normally be allowed to drive in the UK have obtained licences via agents in London who illegally exploit an arrangement the UK has with Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government and the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) told the BBC they were investigating.

The DVLA said work was already under way to tighten the law on standards required for drivers who exchange foreign licences.

Labour MP Louise Ellman, who chairs the Commons Transport Select Committee, is calling for an urgent review.

This is deeply disturbing. It means there are people driving on our roads who have not passed a UK driving test that is recognised by the UK authorities," said Ms Ellman.

That means people's lives may be at risk and it is an extremely disturbing situation - it shouldn't be allowed to happen."

Nationals from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Malaysia, the USA, Israel and China are among those the UK government does not permit to swap their foreign licences automatically into a full UK licence without a test.

Motorists from all countries are allowed to drive in the UK for a year before being required to take a driving test if they do not qualify for an immediate swap of their foreign licence.

'Very worried'

An investigation for BBC London's Inside Out programme revealed agents in the capital are arranging to swap foreign licences into UK ones via a Hong Kong licence, which the UK does accept automatically, to bypass the rules.

A BBC researcher's Indian licence was swapped by an agent into a full UK one
The BBC tracked down the original applications and found fraudulent details used as proof of address in Hong Kong and fake addresses scrawled on envelopes.

Hong Kong based lawyer Raymond Tse, who is experienced in civil, criminal litigation and transport issues, said: "My reaction is that the Hong Kong transport department has been used or manipulated.

If the driving licence in Hong Kong, which is not an identity, can be converted to such an important identity document in the UK then that makes me very worried."

An Indian researcher for the BBC, who was not able to drive here, handed over his passport and Indian driving licence to one of the agents in Edgware, North London.

Within several weeks, he had received a full UK licence from the DVLA that had originated from a fraudulent Hong Kong licence.

'Dubious purposes'

Since 2010, nearly 13,000 Hong Kong licences have been swapped for UK ones under a special exchange arrangement.

This represents the second highest number of UK driving licence swaps from any country in the world.

The DVLA said it was not clear how many driving licences had been affected as it did not keep records of where the drivers of Hong Kong licences, swapped into British ones, originally came from.

The UK driving licence has taken on more importance as an identity document and in addition to driving, can be used to take a domestic flight, open a bank account, prove age or gain credit

The Hong Kong government said it would conduct an investigation into alleged cases
"It's very alarming, I'm stunned," said Prof Richard Aldrich, who has previously advised the UK government on international security.

It's extraordinary that people can obtain a real driving licence via these unorthodox means. It's very troubling.

It's almost certain some of these documents are being used for dubious purposes.

We're talking people trafficking, drug trafficking and at the top of the list is terrorism.

"We recall the people who perpetrated 9/11 also had dubious driving licences."

A Hong Kong government spokesperson told the BBC: "We will conduct an investigation into alleged abuse cases.

Depending on circumstances, these cases may also be referred to the police for consideration of appropriate enforcement action."

Asked whether the DVLA was doing enough to check licences, its director of corporate affairs Hugh Evans said: "We exchange some 30,000 licences in the UK each year and in all we've got some 44 million driver records and have some eight million licences issued annually.

The DVLA does check licences, we work closely with the police."

The BBC will be handing over its evidence exposing the illegal trade in UK driving licences to the authorities in the UK and Hong Kong.
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דרמה בקהילה היהודית בלונדון: תחקיר מקיף שערך ה-BBC שלשום, מטלטל את הקהילה, לאחר שהתחקיר הצליח לתעד שני אברכים צעירים, שגלגלו עסק להמרת רישיונות זרים לרשיונות בריטיםם.

מדובר בעסק המשגשג כבר כשנתיים, ומיועד בעיקר לישראלים ואזרחים זרים אחרים שהגיעו להתגורר באנגליה, וברצונם לנהוג על כבישי בריטניה.

חוקי התעבורה האנגלים אינם מכירים ברישיון הנהיגה הישראלי, ואי לכך, נתקלו אותם ישראלים בבעיות מורכבות בלקיחת קורס נהיגה ובפרט בטסט שבסיומו. גם העלות הגבוהה של השיעורים גרמה לרבים לחפש תחליף מהיר וזול.

האברכים, המתגוררים בהנדון ובעדזשואר, המירו רישיונות ישראלים לרישיון הונג קונג, המוכר באנגליה, ומהונג קונג לרישיון בריטי במחיר של בין 500 ל-750 פאונד. תלוי בעיתוי ובבקשה.

על פי נתוני תחקיר ה-BBC, נמצאו כ-13 אלף רישיונות אנגליים שהומרו מרישיון זר, בהם כמה אלפים שהומרו באמצעות האברכים הללו.

יצוין, כי אותם אברכים הדגישו כי המרת הרישיון היא תהליך חוקי לחלוטין.

במהלך התחקיר פנה כתב ה-BBC בעצמו לאברכים בכדי להמיר את רישיונו הזר תמורת כמה מאות פאונדים, כאשר הכל מתועד במצלמה נסתרת.

המשטרה הבריטית הודיעה בעקבות התחקיר כי היא פתחה בחקירת העניין , במקביל החלה גם משטרת הונג-קונג לחקור את התופעה.

חשוב להבהיר כי המשטרה הבריטית חוקרת בעיקר את היבט העלמת המס מההכנסות אותם אברכים, ואינה רואה מעשה פלילי בעצם המרת הרישיון. לעומת זאת משטרת הונג-קונג בודקת חשד לפלילים בביצוע רישומים כוזבים בתהליך ההמרה.

תגובתו של אחד האברכים: "כל מי שהמיר את רישיונו להונג קונג, עשה מעשה חוקי, אין שום בעיה בהמרת רישיון, ולא זו אף זו, אני עדיין ממשיך להתעסק עם זה, כי הדבר חוקי לכל הדעות. עורך דין הבקיא בפרטים אלו נשכר במיוחד לפרשה ובימים הקרובים תוגש תביעת דיבה נגד ה-BBC. ולכל האברכים שמפחדים, אין להם כלל ממה לחשוש, הכל חוקי ונעשה כחוק. אפשר אפילו להתקשר ל-DVLA (משרד הרישוי האנגלי) ולברר זאת

Greater Manchester has highest anti-Semitic crime rate in UK

Swastikas were daubed on a home in Greater Manchester

More anti-Semitic crime took place in Greater Manchester than London in 2011, despite seven times more Jews living in the capital, says a Jewish charity.

Nearly half of the 586 anti-Semitic crimes reported in the UK were in Greater Manchester, the Community Security Trust (CST) said.

The overall UK figure was the fourth highest since records began in 1984.

Greater Manchester Police said the increase reflected a greater reporting of incidents.

There were 244 reported anti-Semitic crimes in Greater Manchester - including street attacks, threats, vandalism and desecration of Jewish property - with 201 in London.

London's Jewish population stands at 149,800 compared with Greater Manchester's 21,700, the researchers said.

One incident of "extreme violence" took place when a Jewish family were filling up their car at a petrol station.

As one of the family members crossed the forecourt in order to make payment, a car containing two white women reversed sharply into her, knocking her to the ground," the CST report said.

"The occupants then got out of their car, shouted 'Dirty Jew' and spat at the injured woman lying on the ground, before getting back into the car and driving away."

'Serious problem'

It added that the rise "continues the pattern whereby a higher proportion of the anti-Semitic incidents reported to CST occur in Greater Manchester than should be the case, given the relative sizes of the Jewish communities in Manchester and in London".

Among the incidents across the UK in 2011 were 92 assaults, 63 incidents of vandalism, 394 reports of abuse and 29 direct threats.

Mark Gardner, of CST, said: "Anti-Semitism is not the most important feature in British Jewish life, but it remains a serious problem in some parts of society, and retains the potential to worsen significantly in reaction to external events."

The rise in Greater Manchester was due to "major efforts" to ensure all incidents were recorded, police said.

Ch Supt Jon Rush, divisional commander for Bury, said: "What we must acknowledge is that the number of anti-Semitic assaults is far too high.

People in our Jewish communities should be able to safely and freely go about their business without fear of being attacked, so this is the area we accept we need to tackle.

We do not want people to suffer in silence and think they should not speak out when they are subjected to any form of abuse - we want them to tell us so we can bring the offenders to justice.