A former Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency employee who falsified driver licence records in exchange for drugs and stole tens of thousands of dollars through stolen identities has been sent to jail.

David Davies was a contractor working for the Government roading agency in 2018 when he accessed the drivers' licence register to change driver licence statuses, alter Warrant of Fitness records and change ownership records.

Davies did this for at least five people to fund his methamphetamine habit and even changed his own record after being caught driving without a licence.

He also stole people's identities and drained their credit cards, stealing thousands of dollars from his victims.

Davies' primary victim told the court his career, relationship and mental health were destroyed by Davies when the Waka Kotahi NZTA employee stole $26,000 by systematically draining each of his credit cards.

"I literally felt like I no longer existed except in the eyes of the debt collection agencies who were hounding me," David Kerr told the court earlier this year.

Davies used his access to the Waka Kotahi computer system to create a driver's licence for himself using the victim's name.

He was just one of many licence holders Davies preyed upon, with the Crown alleging he stole a total of $53,000, though he attempted to obtain more than $98,000 from various credit lines.

Kerr said Davies treated him like "just a number" and had ruined his life.

He said he had a good life, a fiancée, and a well-paying job, and the couple were in the process of purchasing a house.

Then Davies stole his identity and personal details and used them to exhaust each one of his credit cards.

Kerr only realised something was amiss when his home loan was cancelled due to a poor credit rating.

"At the time a number of debt collection agencies became involved, and I started getting notices demanding repayment," he said.

"I spent years trying to clear my name to no avail. My life was imploding all around me."

He told the court he had gone from a corporate job with 15 years' experience to driving trucks and heavy machinery because no one would hire him due to his credit rating.

"I had to scrounge for every dollar I had. I couldn't even buy simple things like a microwave.

"I moved back in with my parents. This wasn't my own doing but it made me feel like a failure."

Crown prosecutor Guy Carter told the Palmerston North District Court today that Davies continued to minimise his offending.

"This man is coming to court to ask for sympathy when he had no empathy for his victim," Carter said.

"Yes there was restorative justice but it's the Crown view that it's all a bit too little too late. It certainly seems very self-serving.

"The only way to hold him properly accountable is a sentence of imprisonment."

Davies' lawyer Kila Pedder said his client was not asking for the court's sympathy and had demonstrated remorse for his offending.

"What he has done is to write to these credit companies and put his hand up and say he's the one responsible," he said.

"This is not an easy task in terms of facing up to the victim. He met with one of the victims which is no easy task."

Judge Bruce Northwood sentenced Davies to two years and five months imprisonment but said the amount of money he stole was "too vast" for him to impose reparation.

- Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice