Motorist convicted after being witnessed swapping seats in a moving vehicle
The motorist concerned, recently appeared before Leicester Crown Court for sentencing, following an incident in which he was witnessed by police exchanging places with a passenger in a moving car.
In March 2016 the individual was driving three passengers along Braunstone Lane in Leicester, when his attempt to switch places with the front seat passenger caused the car to swerve and deviate from the road endangering the passengers in the vehicle.
The motorist, who was at the time of the incident subject to an existing driving qualification for a previous offence of dangerous driving, had never passed a driving test.
The driver was sent to Leicester Crown Court for sentencing after being convicted, in his absence, by magistrates, of driving when disqualified and driving without insurance.
The court heard that the motorist had 18 previous offences on his record, including aggravated vehicle taking. The individual admitted the offences put him in breach of a suspended sentence order for the earlier offence of dangerous driving.
The defence explained that the individual concerned had responsibility for supporting his girlfriend and one-year-old daughter, stating “he has work and he’s still very young”. The defence acknowledged the likelihood that a custodial sentence would be imposed.
His Honour Judge Philip Head sitting at Leicester Crown Court was particularly scathing in handing down the individual’s sentence telling the defendant that he was “a menace to the road’. His Honour Judge Head stated that a custodial sentence was necessary:
“to protect the public from you and get you to understand you mustn’t get behind the wheel.”
The man was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, this consisted of four months detention for driving when disqualified, to run consecutively with five months activated from his original eight month suspended sentence. The individual was warned that any reoffending could result in a longer custodial sentence being imposed. The individual was also banned from driving for a further period of two years and four months.
