Wabel, a 30-year-old resident of Riyadh was shocked when he was told at the Passport Department that he needed to pay fines for committing four traffic violations. He was trying to have a passport issued at the time. His shock was not because of the system but because he is blind and has never owned a car. He said the Passport Department staff asked him to pay SR2,500. “Another strange thing is that the violation was issued by the Makkah Traffic Police even though I've never been there at any time.” “I went to the Riyadh Traffic Police to solve the problem because I have work that I cannot proceed with until the violations are revoked. In Riyadh they asked me to submit a petition of objection and said they would ask the Makkah traffic police to have the issue solved.” He has been waiting for the result for three weeks now, he said. He added that the violations are still registered under his name and are still “an obstruction” preventing him from having other transactions processed. However, Makkah Traffic Police spokesman Major Fawzi Al-Ansari, said the department did not receive any complaint from the man or from the Riyadh traffic police. He called on the man to lodge his complaint directly to the Makkah Traffic Police.
