Record number of drivers caught without a licence

Police courts in Belgium last year sentenced a record number of people driving without a licence, De Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg report today. In total, 9,159 offenders were caught either with no licence and a further 1,162 with a licence which wasn’t valid, according to the police courts’ annual report. The figures are up 5% on last year and represent a ten-year high. The numbers are "alarming", according to automobile association VAB. "We need to increase the resources to catch those people in the act," says spokesman Maarten Matienko. Offenders risk having their licence revoked for between eight days and five years.