Seat-swap driver narrowly avoids jail sentence
A MAN who was caught driving while disqualified tried to fool police by swapping places with his passenger and giving a false name, a court heard.
Arshad Mahmood Aziz, of Cullingworth Street, Staincliffe, only had six days left of a six-month disqualification when police officers saw him driving on January 19.
Batley and Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court heard the car came up through an automatic number plate recognition search as having no insurance.
Despite officers noticing the driver was an Asian male, when they approached the car there was a white female in the driver’s seat. Prosecuting, Ed Hulbert said Aziz then gave the officers a false name. Aziz, 28, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, using a car without insurance and obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty at a previous hearing.
In mitigation, Simon Lindley said: “He should not have been driving, he knows that. Foolishly, his ban only had a few days left to go. He panicked when he saw the police there, that’s why his partner jumped in the driver’s seat.”
Mr Lindley said Aziz, a father-of-two, had recently qualified as a plumber. Magistrates told the court they were considering a custodial sentence because of the seriousness of the offence.
But giving credit for his guilty plea, they ordered Aziz to pay 80 court costs and attend a thinking skills programme for 12 months with supervision.
He was also disqualified from driving for a further 18 months.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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