The Insurance Council of British Columbia (ICBC) has penalized three more brokers for allegedly helping drivers avoid bridge toll fees.
ICBC licensees Cheryl Lee Das, Heidi Martina Tonja Johnson and Rabjit Singh Johal are the three latest alleged culprits to be disciplined for widespread bridge toll fraud, according to CBC reports. They join Edmund George, Jacqueline Babcock, and Kanesaratna Lyer, who were all reprimanded for the same offences last month.
The brokers have been accused of helping drivers avoid paying for tolls by entering fake payment receipt numbers into the Autoplan system. ICBC says about 100 people are under investigation for the offence.
On Monday, Das and Johnson were both fined $5,000 after ICBC discovered they had collectively entered 85 false receipt numbers into ICBC’s system between January 01, 2014 and June 15, 2015. Johal was fined after admitting the same offence, stating he would simply put in any number for a customer who did not have a receipt.
Drivers with unpaid tolls are unable to renew their licences or car insurance until they pay their outstanding bills. If the bills are 90 days overdue, the ICBC places a “refuse-to-issue” hold on the drivers’ files, which can only be overridden if drivers pay their toll fees and provide an official receipt number to a broker, who then updates the Autoplan system.
“Brokers are given the capability to bypass a refuse-to-issue hold for legitimate reasons — primarily for when proof of payment is presented — but also so they can carry out transactions which do not have an insurance component, such as vehicle registration or transfer of ownership,” ICBC explained in a statement.
“However, in the instances which led to these sanctions, brokers were bypassing a refuse-to-issue hold when they should not have been. These actions were in clear violation of ICBC procedures, ICBC’s Code of Ethics and the ICBC Autoplan Agency Agreement.”
Related stories:
ICBC penalizes brokers for helping motorists avoid toll fees
Insurance Council of BC: Broker bridge toll fraud is widespread, but not systemic
