"My bird ate my licence" could be one of the more unusual excuses Wollongong Highway Patrol officers have heard.
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On January 4, police pulled over a 43-year-old Fairy Meadow man and asked to see his licence.
Instead, he offered them a Queensland Proof of Age card with the words "Proof of Age Card" roughly cut off the top.
The card had an expiry date of 2023.
When questioned about the card, he said it was his licence, and that his bird had eaten the top of it.
This obviously raised the suspicions of police, who soon determined - despite the man having taken to the card with a pair of scissors - that it was a Queensland Proof of Age card.
A licence inquiry revealed he had held a NSW Learner licence which expired in 2005.
He also had a lengthy traffic record, which showed that the Fairy Meadow driver had amassed 562 demerit points in an 11-year period.
He was charged with unlicensed driving, and producing a card calculated to deceive.