Tom Powell
EXCLUSIVE by Tom Powell
TWO of the coast’s best known expats have locked horns in a vicious spat over the sale of controversial international driving ‘licences’.
It comes after Spain’s leading expat motoring writer Brian Deller found his advice website had been hacked and redirected to that of David ‘the Dogman’ Klein’s Costa del Sol Action Group.
Conveniently, it meant that his critical section on the costs and necessity of the ‘licence’ offered by Klein was also erased.
But now Deller, 76, has sought legal advice and got his website back after a three-week struggle, involving numerous calls and emails to Klein.
He also contacted his employers at Talk Radio Europe, where Klein presents a weekly pet show.
The DJ has sold hundreds of permits – via a classified advert with his mobile phone number – for over a decade.
When contacted by a prospective client on behalf of the Olive Press, this week, Klein offered a ‘10-year licence’ for €300, but admitted it was ‘risky’.
“I can get you an international licence that will last for 10 years, but it is a risk (to use it in Spain).”
He continued: “Should you be stopped, some police might say everything is OK, while others will fine you.”
This is because the document is illegal to use as your sole driving licence in Spain, and Deller points out they are actually ‘useless’ for expats here.
But this has not stopped Klein charging up to €450 a time, while similar permits are easily obtainable from Spain’s Traffic department for less than €20, or the AA in the UK for just €12.
Klein confirmed this week that he had been arrested over the allegations of selling illegal licences in 2007, but that he was eventually found not guilty at Malaga High court.
“I was found not guilty and as a result I feel happy to continue selling the permits,” Klein told the Olive Press.
“I clearly state that this is not a licence. This is an international driving permit which requires people to use their own licence with it,” he added.
However in the adverts, which appear in publications including The News, the permits are offered clearly as ‘licences’ (see left), a discrepancy he has failed to clear up. 
Either way, Klein – who lives with his wife in Nueva Andalucia – is adamant they are legal.
“Why shouldn’t I sell them? If they want to go to Trafico or the AA they can. I wouldn’t bother doing it unless I’m earning €100,” he said last night.
Expat Deller – himself a former motoring correspondent on TRE and the author of big-selling book Motoring in Spain – begs to differ.
He insists that that there is ‘absolutely no need for the licences’, a fact that he had pointed out on his website.
He also angrily denounced that his website, www.Spainvia.com, was ‘hacked’ into so visitors were redirected to the Costa del Sol Action Group website.
However, Klein – who has newspaper columns in both the Euro Weekly News and the News Monthly Review – denied any knowledge of the hacking and insisted that Deller was ‘wrong’.
“Brian Deller can’t blame me for something wrong with his website, it’s Google’s problem,” he told the Olive Press. “Google is responsible for misdirecting.”
How exactly though, he was unable to explain clearly.
Klein’s action group, set up with partner John Parsons, purports to root out ‘unqualified, unregulated, unscrupulous’ financial investment products on the coast.
It claims to have over 1,000 members and to have won back four million pounds for clients to date.
Deller had been approached by Klein to sell his driving permits after his book – which sells in WHSmith, Waterstones and on Amazon – was first published in 2004.
“I did admittedly sell one to a South African man for €450, before I realised they were totally unofficial,” said Deller, who lives in Sotogrande, having moved from South Africa over three decades ago.
“It had been made in Taiwan, was very expensive and I quickly discovered that the official sources are much cheaper and actually legally recognised.
“I’m very angry about what’s happened to my site and we have consulted lawyers over it,” he added.
Leading Marbella lawyer Antonio Flores believes that Klein is certainly playing a ‘very risky game’.
He said: “No one can sell an international driving licence. At most, you can advise someone on how to go about applying for one.
“What Klein seems to be doing is purport to be the purveyor of these international driving licences, which is wrong.
“If he is acting merely as an intermediary, and charges whatever the parties convene, that is different.”
Have you bought a licence from Klein? Anybody with information should email newsdesk@theolivepress.es
I was taken for a ride
ONE angry punter – who wished to remain anonymous – told the Olive Press they purchased an international driving permit from Klein for €450 in 2006, after moving to Spain from the Middle East and spotting an advert in Sur in English newspaper.
The licence is blue and passport-like, with the words ‘worldwide community of vehicle operators’ on the front.
The word ‘licence’ is spelt inconsistently throughout, with both the American ‘license’ and the English ‘licence’ in the same sentence in one instance.
“It was so badly done I was worried about driving past police,” said the client. “It looked pretty amateur and the picture on the card was also out of focus.”
International driving permits are only necessary for people travelling to a foreign country, not residents, and they are worthless without an original licence too.
“Should you be stopped, some police might say everything is OK, while others will fine you.”
To be honest, that is how the Spanish system works, irrespective if you have a Spanish license or a license from another country. It’s pretty much pot luck if you get fined and there are numerous stories of expats getting fined for having licenses declared invalid even though they are in fact totally valid throughout the EU.
My neighbour is currently suing traffico/DGT for fining him 200 euros for having the wrong license. He contacted the EU help desk and sent a copy of his license and was told that it was valid in Spain (and the whole of the EU) and that he should take legal action against traffico, and is using that official response to now get his fine refunded. Contesting such fines in Spain requires a lawyer, and is a lengthy and stressful process. Spain in a nutshell.
My shrewd wife stopped me from buying quite an expensive house in Spain, so grateful i didn`t, when you read about the Crooks living there.
what is it with these radio commentators?There seems to be so many skeletons in their cupboards.The list seems endless,who’s next?So many have disappeared without explanation.
A fool and his money is soon parted,,,,, Spain is full of both fools and crooks,,,, a bit like the UK, only our crooks are politicians and bankers,,,,and the fools,,,, the voters…..
Dear Fred, you are correct of course and that is why when researching for my book, out of print at this time, I only make appointments with Trafico Managers as the staff are mostly ignorant of foreigner laws. After a British Consular staff member (Alicante) gave out the wrong information on the Costa Blanca a couple of years ago, at a public meeting for expats, I contacted the then British Ambassador and advised her of the facts and suggested that such advice be only obtained from Trafico Head office from senior officials. The F C O web-site, which also contained the errors, was changed two days later, so it is very difficult in Spain as we have all found. That is why I wrote my book. Funnily enough I never received any thanks from the British Embassy for my advice. I only expected a note but perhaps that is the attitude of government officials everywhere?
I find that taking photos and writing a lot in the police official’s presence works wonders as well as showing them a copy of my book which has my photo in the frontispiece makes them think. The chapter in my book, Anatomy of an Accxident” is a good example of the Guardia not working porofessionnally but my anaysis of the accident with photos meant that my insurance company believed me and that it was the other driver who hit us, a speeding señora’s fault totally. It was very important to me as i had 50+ years “No Claims” – still have.
In South Africa here we lived for 25 years, I was a volunteer policeman (no not a PCCPO but a full policeman working when needed) and have on several occasions given expert evidence after an investigated accident to the Court.
Brian, I have read your book and very good it is too. Unfortunately, in Spain, it is almost impossible to be fully legal in anything one does. My advice to all residents in Spain is to change your license immediately for a Spanish one, and take the obligatory medical and get your traffico record updated. Do not try and drive with a UK license for any lengthy period of time if you are a resident because even if it is valid, traffico will often decide otherwise. There is no integration in Europe; it’s a union of total disorder and chaos and incompatible laws.
Rules about hacked webpages, and indeed anything to do with the Internet, are hard to police and control. Whether that’s for the best or not is open to interpretation and experience. I certainly don’t like my name lenoxnapier being used as a dot com by someone else, but there’s not much I can do.
Lenox, a good IP lawyer would get those domains back for you. ICANN has a resolution policy here: “https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/policy-2012-02-25-en”
Another good way is to make your own name a trademark, then action is much more swift. I should know, I’ve done it lol.
Just to clarify some points and thank you Fred for the “accolade”. I originally amassed the information for myself but was encouraged by the shop staff at Bookworld España, Fuegirola to write one as they received several enquiries every week for such information. The next week I had two phone calls from Almeria and Murcia inquiring when the book would be ready thus spurring me on. One expat showed almost hatred for me for the book as he also wrote for local newsletters and IO no longer see or wish to see him now. Also many expats are unhappy to be illegal but do not seem to care about being caught. As one in the last year near where we live, asked me how to get his older Toyota minibus onto Spanish plates band I advised him that it would not be cheap because as he had liverd in Spain for 8 years it would now be classed as a personal import whereas if he had done it when he arrived it would have been classed as personal property with no import duties, only the cost of the transfer. I gave hime the name of a reliable father and son team who had lived in the UK an are fluent in both Spansih and English. I stresss that I ask no commissions for such referrals. When he was presented with the estiumate bill, he freaked out because not only ws it a diesel but it is an old disel with a high polloution engine, and so was difficult to get passed. But of course as is the case with most of the expats who do not transfer their foreign plated vehicles he had not been paying any annual taxes on the vehicle for 8 years, and I believe that he was not going to do the transfer as the cost was probably about Euro 1 000, but I believe he was (at last) stopped in a road block and given a week to get the procedure started and it has now had Spanish plates for some months. He can now drive with more piece of mind. But now he is rude to me and I no longer talk with him because of this. But it is only human nature for the ignorant to look for someone else to blame for their lack of foresight. If he had stayed civil as the vehicle is now over 25 years old, I would have suggested his putting historic plates on it as there are benefits to doing thisi especially when it is to be sold.
I almost feel sorry for David Klein except that he has most likely ripped off dozens of expats who could ill afford the hundreds he was asking for the combination driving licence (highly illegal) and the IDP which can I see now be obtained over the UK Post Office counters in the UK for only Pds 5, 50.
How did D K hijack my web site? He recommended the man who set up my new web-site when i had to use new software as the old software was obsolete, so I am using logic and deducing that the same man did what D K asked and as there was no password protection on the File transfer system, my error as well as the suspect who also did not put one on, and he was well paid for the work. He denies it of course but it is now history except to say that D K would not have beenfound out if he had not hijacked my web site and placed his own on it. As my good wife says and we should obviously agree, that was a dead giveaway.
Anyway my Internet Service Provider corrected everything in a “flash” and there is now a secure password in place.
All that needs to be seen now is will Talk Radio Europe or TRE, fire D K as he has been exposed of committing a serious “crime” by the Olive Press? They have done so before with Maurice Boland (who really did not commit a crime) and Barry Nathan who has bee suspended. There are no doubts about that fact but as he brings a sponsor to the radio station, it will depend on the morals of the station manager I suppose.
But the Olive Press team has to be congratulated for helping keep our personal cash safe from these predators.
All the best and keep safe out there. The police, etc. are desperate for money, our money.
In my opinion this is just a publicity stunt for Mr Deller to sell his book. ! As an outsider I see this as a vindictiv way of pushing the book. I can’t see why David Klein should have the need to do such a thing being a well known person on the coast without any of this noncence!
Ms. Marie, My book has long been out of print and I have no need for such publicity. I have the Fourth Edition about finished but will have to go through it again as the laws change every week. It is a shame that pèople with your suspicions exist but that it life. I have received many thanks for writing the book which has not gained me “massive” profits. I have scanned proof that the D K offer consisted of not only an IDP but also a credit card (fake) driving licence and the buyer can (could) select what classifiactions he/she wanted. I actually feel sorry for D K who I used to regard as a friend until he must have hacked my web-site and I know how and probably by whom it was done. He gave the game away. If he had not done the “dirty deed”, I would not have said anything. DK and his wife Susan must be feeling the current crisis as we all are, Incidentally my wife and I do not rely at all on any income from my book. It is just a hobby so I have another reason to get up each day I have in my old years.
Deller it is very obvious having read the Olive press and your comments on the internet that you are aiming to get back into the public eye and prepare people for your fourth book wink wink. You have a lot to prove about breaking into websites.I find your story quite remarkable.
Regarding these licences I purchased one for 250 Euros and used it inThailand and Dubai where International permits are required by law for car hire I had no problem whatsoever.
You state Quote D K has been exposed of committing a serious “crime” Unquote What serious crime has he committed?
You state he did not change your website and that someone else did. You insinuate he paid someone to do this, prove it and name the person.
According to the Olive Press Klein was found not guilty in a Spanish Court of Law of selling false documents.
To sink so low is beyond all comprehension.
I would like to ask Mr B.J. Deller why he takes every possible opportunity to run down his homeland of South Africa? If you have n’t anything good to say perhaps its better to stay quiet! I have read endless comments in the Daily Mail by Mr Deller and not one has anything good to say about South Africa! I live in Port Elizabeth ,South Africa and I can say plenty of good things about S.A.No doubt he misses the days of apartheid,murder and black people saying,”Yes Baas”!It is true that we have a terrible President who is corrupt but that is no reason to run the county down and it won’t be long before we have a better leader.I wonder why Mr Deller is so bitter that he makes such horrible comments? Perhaps he has valid reasons because a member of his family was hurt or killed? Paul Rowe (not taking the chicken run and happy in S.A. (various chicken noises cluck! cluck!)
Mr Rowe, While I can understand your chagrin at my criticisms of the current state of South Africa, al are justified. Mt wife and I are South African citizens as well as British, and my some of my children still live there. 9)% + of the people here i ask two questions of, one, why was Nelson Mandela jailed? and two, what exactly was Apartheid? – do not know the answers because they either do not care of they, like most people, just believe whatever they are told. But the facts are very plain now and easy to discover. The ANC was a bunch of terrorists who uysed murder and mayhem as well as skilled propaganda to a weak-minded international audience to gain power. But like just about all murdering terrorists they are useless at admninistering a country, and now South Africa has massive power cuts because the skilled electrical engineers were fired (affirmative action) and they moved elsewhere especially Australia, and when I mention thsi to the average expat here, they know nothing about that massive problem.. New business has been turned away from SA because EsCom (Electricity Supply Commission) cannot guarantee being able to supply that most basic of needs, electricity. and the sitaution has got so bad that brave non-whites are openly saying that “Things were so much better when the white man was in charge”. The lies about black people being murdered by the Afrikaans Govt. are just that. Those who were killed were involved actively in planting land mines, shooting men women and children and massive car bombs in the city streets. My wife and I after 15 years here in Spain where she can walk around wearing gold cha<ins with no fear of being robbed in the streets are raped , but our friends still living in SA advised us most strongly to stay here.
When I first came to S. A. on business in 1976. the Pd. Sterling would buy R1, 52. Today it will buy you R19, 45. Imagine what that means for the people of S A who want to buy foreign made goods? Even our searching on the Internet for prices of say a 5 litre good boxed wine shows that it retails at 20 times what it did when we lived there. The only good point is that our life savings that i have been careful to keep in Sterling have increased due to the change in the rates fantasctically. We were encouraged by the cheap luxury homes in SA now where although they cost a R-million or two, in Sterling they are very cheap. But as our friends say
, the turning off of the electricity supply for hours at a time "will drive you mad Brian, as it does us." So there you have it. I am not knocking S A, per se but I am justifiably very critical of what it has become under the administration of the new Govt. AND SO SHOULD YOU BE. I read now in the S A media that certain ANC leaders, one in particular has never done a good worthwhile day's work in his life, are urging for all farms and businesses owned by whites to be confiscated and given to blacks. Hey man, that is far more "racist" than the Apartheid Govt. was.and so should you be. The next is of course, all whites do not belong on the continent of Africa and must be evicted. Do not mock, it has happened before and that was a major reason for the Apartheid system. In the medium to long run the non-whites would have prospered far more under Apartheid than they will now.
I am now 77 years old and I have forecast many things in this World and most have already come true, and I hate being right but logic is a wonderful thing. If you are white, get worried for you or your children, grandchildren may be evicted in the future. Do not get mad at me, work it out and do something about it before it is too late. Propaganda works, as the A N C, and Hitler have proved. Incidentally, I have black friends and before we left, I was invited to parties where i was the only white person present. I was even invited to witness the killing of the cow, an honour I am told. When I told the black friends later that we were leaving as we had a very clever son who most likely would not be able to get a job in SA, even with an Honours Degree, they begged me not to go as they knew by looking at the rest of Africa what happens when the white man leaves.
Many of the black people are much more intelligent that some may think. After all they stole the richest country in Africa with virtually no bloodshed. We love South Africa and we cry for it now.