Motorists use con trick to avoid fines

More than 200 Australian motorists have avoided parking and speeding fines by blaming either a dead man or an interstate resident for their errors in what Sydney police said today may be a widespread fraud.

Under New South Wales state law, if a car owner signs a sworn statement that they were not driving the vehicle when an offence was committed, they can avoid paying speed camera fines, which arrive by mail, and parking tickets left under windshield wipers.