Norway police cut traffic fine in half for foreign truck driver since he's from "low-income" Sweden. [View all]

[pampango]

Norway police cut traffic fine for 'lower-income' Swede

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16460222

Police in Norway cut in half a traffic fine for a Swedish trucker on the grounds that Swedes earn less than Norwegians, Oslo newspaper VG reports. Ulf Ander Andersson, 61, was driving a lorry for his Norwegian employer in March when he was stopped by police, who found his brakes were not in order.

He was fined £857 ($1,323) but last month got a letter saying the sum had been reduced due to his nationality.

Norway enjoys a higher GDP per capita than its bigger neighbour: nearly $52,000 compared to $38,000, according to IMF figures for 2010.

In their letter to Mr Andersson, Norwegian police said they had taken the fact that he was Swedish into consideration, and therefore reduced the 8,000-krona fine "with regard to your income level".

Hard to imagine the national mentality that would cut the traffic fine in half for a foreigner just because he was from a neighboring country where the per-capita income is less. Hard to imagine that happening here. Those "socialists" in Europe sure are different.