Trucker admitted forged licence
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A Birmingham trucker who was caught driving a 41-tonne antic with a forged driving licence has been disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to do 100 hours of community service, John Lester had been sent to Wolverhampton Crown Court for sentencing by Wolverhampton Magistrates
after they decided that their powers of punishment were insufficient. Lester had pleaded guilty to two offences of using an altered driving licence with intent to deceive, three offences of driving otherwise than in accordance with a driving licence, and three offences of driving a vehicle without insurance.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Adam Farrel' said that Lester had been employed by Impexstone driving a 41-tonne artic since February 2000.
Enquiries to DVLA revealed that Lester was not qualified to drive that class of vehicle and that he had produced a forged licence to the company.
When interviewed by a traffic examiner., Lester produced the forged licence and said that he had passed his HGV driving test in 1982. Further enquiries revealed that he was lying, and Lester subsequently admitted that he had never held an HGV driving entitlement and had the licence forged In London about 12 years ago.
For Lester. Susan Forsyth said that he had a good driving record and had not posed any danger. There had never been any criticism of his driving and an examination of his tachograph records had not revealed any offences.
Judge Frank Chapman pointed out that the problem was that Lester had invalidated all the insurance.
Lester knew that he was going to be disqualified, said Miss Forsyth. He did not know what work he could do without a driving licence. He had terminated his employment in December because of a medical problem as he was not sure whether it would be safe to continue driving.
Making the community service order, Judge Chapman told Lester. "It was a very stupid thing to do to after the licence to get a better job than you otherwise would have got and I can understand the temptation. Fortunately you have not had an accident.
"You are clearly capable of doing the job even if you are not qualified to do so, I think this is just stupid."