Frustrated with having failed his driving test a staggering twelve times, a Ghanaian man living in Belgium actually enlisted a lookalike to take the exam for him in the hopes of fooling authorities into providing him with the elusive paperwork. An individual named Serge was reportedly at the center of the strange scheme which came to light last week. Upon settling in his new country of residence, the man was chagrined to discover that his Ghanaian license was not recognized by Belgian authorities. As this made finding a job particularly difficult, Serge set about taking the necessary steps to get back out on the road, but the process turned out to be far more difficult that he anticipated.
For reasons unexplained, Serge tried and failed to pass his driving exam a dozen times until he finally grew so fed up that he concocted what one imagines he thought was a rather clever plan. The aspiring motorist turned to a Congolese friend named Julien, who not only somewhat resembled him, but also had previously gotten his license in Belgium. Together, they theorized that the proposed doppelganger could hoodwink instructors in the city of Mons, which is apparently known for being less strict when it comes to driving exams. However, upon putting their scheme into action, things rather quickly awry when the switcheroo was sussed out by an attentive worker at the Belgian DMV.
It would seem that their resemblance was not quite as striking as the pair believed as, when the imposter presented his friend's identification to the employee, stark differences in their facial features were immediately noticed. The diligent driving instructor subsequently reported the attempted deception to authorities, who charged the pair with forgery and fraud. At a hearing last week, prosecutors requested 200 hours of community service for Julien and a suspended sentence of one year for Serge, who has amazingly still not passed the Belgian driver's exam, but has found work at a nearby job that he can reach by train.