The pizzeria was about to close, it was close to closing time. Nicky, an independent carpenter from Amsterdam, blasted his work bus over the sidewalk into the parking lot. He double parked, in two disabled spaces. Nicky (34) hadn’t eaten that December evening, and had drunk about twelve beers.
“You don’t have a lawyer?” the Amsterdam police judge asks Nicky, who enters the courtroom in jeans. “No”, replies Nicky, “he has been fired”. So Nicky says himself that he “should never have done it”.
The judge: “You didn’t think: let me go by bike. Or well, that’s not really allowed. I mean walking.”
Nicky: “No, I thought: I will drive there quickly.”
The news is full of it, the prosecutor tells Nicky. “From drunk driving, dangerous driving.” Nicky is silent – he doesn’t say too much the whole thing. Police figures showed last month that the number of deaths due to drugs and alcohol in traffic increased last year.
On a Wednesday morning, sixteen road traffic law cases are scheduled in the Amsterdam court. Impossible, says the judge between two cases. This is not because an above-average number of road traffic law cases are scheduled, but because suspects who are in danger of losing their driving license actually show up. “There is a lot at stake for a lot of people.”
All the suspects this morning are men, almost all of them have committed a crime before.
Polish warehouse worker Oskar was caught driving down a closed road with a joint in his mouth. The judge wants to know if he still drives a car. “No,” says Oskar. “You don’t have a driver’s license anymore?” Oskar: “I’ve never had a driver’s license.” Oh, says the judge, “that is extra problematic”.
Tour manager Christopher drove a Mercedes along the busy Amsterdam Nassaukade with a phone in his hand. When he was stopped, it turned out that he did not have a driver’s license – he had been stripped of it after he was stoned behind the wheel.
In court, Christopher – gray tracksuit, light brown vest – wiggles his feet nervously. “I did not dare to tell my boss that my driver’s license had been taken away.”
Mohammed was drunk behind the wheel, lost his driver’s license, received a letter that he was allowed to drive again, and later another letter that he was not allowed, but he missed it, because he already lived at a different address, he says. Mohammed is acquitted for driving without a license.
“Let me put it this way: you are not the neatest road user,” the judge then told Bulgarian Taner. The electrician came to court in his work clothes. Dusty shoes with steel toe caps, sturdy zip-off trousers. Taner also lost his driver’s license because he had been drunk behind the wheel. Then why was he still driving? “I was on the road with my boss,” says Taner. “He was tired and had a headache, and asked if I could take the wheel for a while. He said nothing would happen and he would arrange it differently.” The judge: “I don’t see him anywhere else now.”
For the third time, the public prosecutor repeats that driving without a license carries a prison sentence of two weeks. “You are not insured. If you cause an accident, the victim would be left with lifelong consequences, but no compensation.”
The public prosecutor wants to say one more thing to Nicky, and it is not up to me, but with something more alcohol would have made your driver’s license invalid”.
“What would that mean?” the judge wants to know. “That would be dramatic,” says Nicky. “Then I can no longer work.” Nicky receives a conditional driving ban and a fine of 850 euros.
The judge hopes to “never see him again”.
Nicky: “I hope so too.”