A drunk driver that caused an accident that resulted in the death of family from Kortemark (West Flanders) last weekend had been banned from driving in 2021. However, Wednesday’s edition of the daily ‘De Standaard’ reports that although he should have surrendered his driving licence he never did as he was never officially informed of the court’s verdict. The public prosecutor’s office confirms that as the 50-year-old was not given official notification of the verdict that obliged him to surrender his licence and not to drive again until he had resat his driving test and passed a medical and pyschological tests.
Drunk driver that killed West Flemish family’s previous driving ban never enforced
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Last weekend the man, who was 4 times over the legal alcohol limit, collided at high speed with a car carrying a couple and their young child on the E403 motorway at Ruddervoorde in West Flanders. The couple and their 8-year-old child were killed.
The man has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence of drink and other driving offences, including speeding. It was not the first time that the man had committed driving offences.
Driving ban not enforced
In autumn 2021 the Court of Appeal issued the man with a 45-day driving ban. Under the conditions of the ruling, he would only be given back his driving licence once he had resat and passed his theoretical and practical driving tests and had passed psychological tests and a medical. However, the man was never officially informed of the verdict and as a result it was never enforced.
Tom Janssens of the West Flemish Public Prosecutor’s Office says that "Normally a verdict like this is enacted a few months after it has been served". This mean that he should normally has served his ban and taken the tests in 2022, but this was not the case”.
Who is at fault?
Mr Janssens went on to say that "We are investigating what went wrong. We knew where he lived, but nobody came to his door to make him hand over his driving licence. Did we fail to issue the order or did the police not carry it out?”
He added that “If we have made a mistake, we will face the consequences and the same goes for the police”.