Assign a driver to a penalty notice
This article explains how to record who was driving when a Strafmandat (penalty notice) was issued, so the mandate can be forwarded to the authority and eventually resolved. Establishing the driver is the core of Fahrerermittlung (driver identification) under Halterhaftung (vehicle-keeper liability).
Before you start
Assigning a driver is a role-gated action. You need the strafmandate:assign-driver permission (granted to FleetManager and SystemAdmin by default, and to any custom role you configure). The mandate must already exist in your tenant.
Note: A mandate keeps only one active driver assignment at a time. When you record a new driver, any existing active assignment is automatically superseded, and the change is written to the assignment history.
Assign a known driver
- Open the Strafmandat and go to the driver-assignment action.
- Select the driver who was responsible for the vehicle at the violation time. The driver must exist in your tenant and be active.
- Optionally add a reason or note documenting how the driver was identified.
- Confirm. The system records the assignment as active and stamps who assigned it and when.
The action fails with a clear error if the input is not valid:
| Error | Meaning |
|---|---|
| INVALID_DRIVER_ID | No valid driver was selected. |
| DRIVER_NOT_FOUND_OR_INACTIVE | The chosen driver does not exist or is not active. |
| MANDATE_NOT_FOUND | The mandate does not exist in this tenant. |
| STRAFMANDATE_FORBIDDEN | You lack the assign-driver permission. |
Mark the driver as unknown
If you genuinely cannot identify the driver, record that explicitly instead of leaving the mandate blank. This uses the same assign-driver permission.
- Choose the "mark driver unknown" action on the mandate.
- Enter a reason — this is required. A request without a reason is rejected with DRIVER_UNKNOWN_REASON_REQUIRED.
- Confirm. The mandate's assignment status becomes driver-unknown, and this counts as a completed assignment for downstream steps.
Tip: Marking the driver unknown, like a normal assignment, supersedes any earlier active assignment and is captured in the audit trail with your reason.
Why the driver assignment matters
An active driver assignment (or an explicit driver-unknown record) is a prerequisite for two later steps:
- Forwarding to the authority — you cannot forward an Anhörung response until a driver is assigned or marked unknown.
- Resolving the mandate — if your tenant requires it, the completion guard blocks the transition to resolved until a driver assignment or driver-unknown record exists.
Review the assignment history
Every assignment and driver-unknown record is retained. Open the mandate's assignment history to see the full sequence for audit and QA, including who made each change and when.
Related
- Automatic driver matching
- Forward a notice to the authority (Anhörung)
- The mandate status workflow and transitions
- The mandate timeline
