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Driver in Norway jailed after 25 speeding tickets in 19 days

A Frenchman who had been in Norway for just over a month has been handed a 21-day prison sentence for amassing 25 speeding tickets in 19 days.

Published: 18 March 2024 15:21 CET

Speeding camera

The worst infraction was on February 20, when he was caught at the wheel of a Kia driving 113 kilometres per hour (70 mph) in a zone with a speed limit of 70 km/h. Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

The 23-year-old, who travelled to Norway in search of a job according to local media, was caught speeding 25 times between February 6 and 25.

READ MORE: What you need to do if you have a car accident in Norway

The worst infraction was on February 20, when he was caught at the wheel of a Kia driving 113 kilometres per hour (70 mph) in a zone with a speed limit of 70 km/h, according to a court ruling seen by AFP on Monday.

The man “represents a danger in traffic”, the Oslo district court said.

According to daily Aftenposten, most of his infractions were registered by fixed speed cameras, whose existence he was not aware of. The man had his sentence reduced by three days, from 24 to 21, due to his full confession.

But he will have to manage for a while without his driver’s licence, which the court suspended for a year.

EXPLAINED: The ways you can lose your driving licence in Norway

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Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

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