£40,000 speeding ticket for going 14mph over limit

Finnish authorities take a very dim view of speeding, as they demonstrated when they fined one driver a staggering £40,000 for going just 14mph over the limit.

The huge  sum was demanded because in Finland, fines for speeding are scaled up according to the wealth of the law-breaker. 

Unfortunately for this businessman  who was caught travelling at 64mph in a 50mph zone he is a multi-millionaire and the authorities took a peek at his tax return.

Reima Kuisla's tax return showed that he earned 6.5m euros (£4.72m) a year, so they dished out a 54,000 euro fine, the Iltalehti newspaper reported.

The fine has a logic to it, but Mr Kuisla complained bitterly on his Facebook page about the sum he was asked to hand over posting a picture of the ticket and saying: ‘Finland is impossible to live in for certain kinds of people who have high incomes and wealth. I’m considering leaving the country.’

However, sympathy levels in Finland for his plight have been fairly low. One user wrote on the Iltalehti website: ‘He should stop complaining and hang his head in shame instead.’