– This will be very cumbersome for us who are well into our eighties. I wish it were easier. This is unsustainable. Solveig Ommedal is 87 years old, blind and weak to the bone. She lives in a care home in the poor village of Hyen in Gloppen municipality. She is one of many in Norway who does not have a BankID or other valid identification. This can lead to a number of challenges. In Solveig’s case, it concerns the re-registration of a car last year, something her son Sivert Jan Ommedal tried to help her with. – But I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall. I won’t get anywhere, says Sivert Jan. – A square system Because without a bank ID, you cannot log in to the Swedish Road Administration and fix the re-registration online. Sivert Jan therefore contacted the traffic station and was presented with a backup solution: Mora herself could come to the counter at the traffic station, which is an hour’s drive away. – I begged softly if mother could let this go. It is not so easy to travel when you are blind and elderly. He agreed to this. If he took all the necessary papers with him, he could meet upstairs at the traffic station. But when he arrived at the counter and presented all the paper, he was rejected. Mora’s only identification document, an old driver’s license that expired in 1988, did not last. Photo: astrid solheim korsvoll / news – But what do we do then, I asked her at the counter, Sivert tells Jan. No, then the mother would have to go to the police and get a passport, was the message he got. Solveig and Sivert Jan do not think this is a good solution, not least the 87-year-old himself. – When you are blind, it affects your whole body. It’s one thing to sit in a car, but then you have to enter and exit a building. If there are stairs, it will be difficult. It will be very cumbersome, says Solveig. They are both frustrated by a “square” system, especially when the body does not cooperate and you live far away from a police station. – It’s just sad. The only thing the mother needs an ID for is to re-register a car. We thought the whole thing was so difficult that we gave it a go, says Sivert Jan. The Swedish Road Administration says no, the police say yes But recently the Nordfjorden heard something that caused the irritation to flare up again. It turns out that the police are more lenient than the traffic stations when it comes to accepting old driving licenses as identification. – The Norwegian Road Administration did not accept their own identification, but the police can. This means that she could go to the police with her driver’s license and get a passport that she could use for absolutely everything. Also at traffic stations. It is a backwards country, says Sivert Jan. Kristi Fürstenberg, section chief at the administration section in the West police district, confirms this. Not everyone has identification papers. It can create challenges when they have to get a passport or ID card. The case manager must be sure that they have the right information in front of them, and an interview, old driver’s license etc. can be part of an overall picture that gives you a passport. Photo: Martin Torstveit / news From time to time the police meet people who, for various reasons, lack ID. – Old driver’s licenses can be a factor in the balance when we print passports for them. The Norwegian Police Directorate does not have an overview of how many this applies to. Fürstenberg says they use several methods to establish that people are who they say they are. Interview, certificate, tax card, and, for example, old driver’s license. – We have a responsibility to help ensure that everyone gets identification papers, she says, and says that they have now got mobile passport offices. They travel out with these “passport suitcases” to people who cannot get to the police. In the West police district, two such passport cases came into place in August 2022. So far, they have been used just under ten times. Road Administration: – We have a good system Section chief Sigfred Sivertsen in the Norwegian Road Administration says they have arrangements where people without identification papers can apply for an exemption. Then they must have documentation from health personnel. – Why didn’t the Ommedal family receive information about this arrangement? – If they didn’t get it, then we have to apologize. We think we have created a system that will catch these cases, says Sivertsen. The reason why the traffic stations did not accept old driving licenses is that they do not have the security elements required today, he explains. – The Ommedal family think it seems strange that the old driver’s license can be used by the police, but that those who made the driver’s license did not accept it? – I understand that someone may think it seems strange, but that’s how it is. We think we have a good system where people can apply for an exception if they need it. Hoping for more understanding Sivert Jan Ommedal hopes the National Roads Administration will change course, and that they, like the police, can look at a complete picture to determine identity. – Those who work with this must have a little more empathy. They should be rounder at the edges. It is about respect for the elderly and for the relatives who want to help. Now it is so difficult that one just gives up. – Do you understand that they must also have their own methods for checking information? – Yes, I understand that rules are rules, but they don’t always suit everyone. Not everyone has a BankID or is as easy to get around. For the family, the end was to show that the insurance company has come up with an arrangement. The car is in a state of death after its father, and it can continue to do so for another couple of years. – But then we have to find a solution, says Sivert Jan Ommedal.
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– Like banging your head against the wall – news Vestland
