A young father from Ipswich who drove into the back of a parked Ford Focus pleaded with the car's owner not to involve the authorities.
Aaron Lomax explained that he had been concentrating on avoiding a drunken pedestrian when the Fiat Uno he was driving collided with her car. He offered to settle the £1,000 damages without involving either car insurance agency.
But when Aaron, 23, revealed he had been driving whilst disqualified and without young driver car insurance, the other driver turned him down.
In court, he pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified, careless or inconsiderate driving, driving with no motor insurance, and driving without a test certificate.
Magistrates sentenced Aaron to a 12-month community order and ordered him to pay £350 in compensation and £20 in costs. He also received another six points on his licence - meaning he won't be in the market for cheap car insurance any time soon.
Aaron now has 150 hours of unpaid work in the community to look forward to, and another 150 hours grovelling to his girlfriend - the Fiat he crashed had been a present to her.