A former professional driver who fitted his car with false number plates in an attempt to avoid being caught driving illegally has been banned from the roads for 3 years.
Qualified HGV driver Terry Brown, 44, of no fixed abode but previously of Kent, admitted fraudulently altering a registration document, 2x drug driving, driving without an MOT and driving without insurance when he appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court today (Tuesday).
Prosecuting, Lauren McConnell told the court that in the early hours of 4th February this year, a member of the public alerted Police to a suspect vehicle on board the Wightlink vehicle ferry, believed to be on cloned number plates.
Police arrived at the scene in Fishbourne and spoke to the driver, Brown, who had pulled over in a layby. Officers inspected the Jaguar X-type and noticed that the false plates had been cable-tied over the vehicle’s existing ones.
When questioned, Brown said that he had ‘made a mistake’ and that the plates on the vehicle belonged to the car of his partner – who was in the passenger seat.
When probed, Brown admitted that the vehicle had no valid MOT and was not insured, telling officers he was going sort things out when he got the car over to the Island from the mainland.
A roadside drugs wipe conducted at the scene returned a positive reading for cocaine and benzoylecgonine – the cocaine breakdown product.
Brown was arrested and taken to Newport Police Station and it was here that he admitted that he had consumed cocaine some days prior when he was celebrating his move to the Island from Kent, and that he knew the associated risks involved with driving the vehicle but wanted to get the vehicle over to the Isle of Wight.
The court heard how Brown has 2 previous convictions – both for drug driving – on his record.
Defending the former volunteer firefighter, Nick Muir told the court that Brown knew that a disqualification today would put his ‘life on hold’ but that he knew what he did was ‘very stupid’. Muir told the court that Brown – a keen churchgoer – had only recently moved to the Isle of Wight from the Isle of Sheppey.
Magistrates handed Brown a 36-month driving ban and fined him £200. He was ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £80 surcharge fee.
I love reading these stories, regular church goer
Lol
I thought Church goers were law abiding citizens.
More trash coming over here with a criminal lifestyle. “Keen churchgoer”. Yea right.
Too be honest from what I see on a daily basis
the trash is already here.
Just take a walk along Sandown esplanade and
see for yourself.