A man who changed his signature to a drawing of a penis "for a laugh" has lost a five-year battle with Australian authorities for it to be recognised. Jared Hyams scrawled the eyebrow-raising moniker at the bottom of a form for the Australian Electoral Commission as a joke. But he had no idea it would land him in a five-year legal battle with various authorities to accept it as a signature. See the flip side of the license with the 'signature' after the cut..
He said: "I thought it would be a laugh; they would approve it and next year I would sign something different. "But when I did this signature all of a sudden the shit hit the fan. I was receiving letters and phone calls telling me I couldn't have it. I thought, that's interesting, why not?"
So the 33-year-old Melbourne man did what anyone would do - he signed up to study for a law degree, determined to take on the Australian government.
He 'adopted' the phallic symbol as his own signature and used it to successfully applied for an licence to drive in Victoria, a government proof of age card, a health care card and various student cards.
The joker even opened a bank account bearing his newfound tag. But some agencies didn't share his sense of humour - VicRoads, who process licences for drivers, initially rejected his signature.
Jared fought his case twice, but both times were thrown out by a magistrate. The scrawl only appear on his licence when it 'slipped through the net'.
The Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs refused him a passport bearing the symbol and warned it "could constitute sexual harassment" of staff.
And the Department of Justice rejected his application for a Working With Children criminal check - but Jared admitted he has "sensitivity" to their decision.
