Car insurance news
A young motorist who gave police a false name to avoid prosecution for having no car insurance ended up in prison after pretending to be someone who was already disqualified from driving.
19-year-old Samuel Grandy, who had no motor insurance or MOT, was stopped by police in April 2005 and told them his name was Nicky Montague because he had borrowed his friend's tax disc so he and a few mates could drive to Ipswich to go shopping.
What the warehouse assistant didn't realise, however, was that someone else called Nicky Montague was already banned from driving and was actually a police target. Thinking that Grandy was the wanted man, he was thrown into jail for 19 days.
When the case of mistaken identity was revealed, the 19-year-old was released but ordered to turn up at court to face charges of fraudulent use of a tax disc and having no car insurance or MOT. He pleaded guilty to all charges at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court and the bench banned him from driving for six months, fined him £50 and ordered him to pay £25 towards court costs.
Mike Page, spokesman for Hoot Car Insurance Services, commented on the case, saying, "It's bad enough driving without car insurance, but to pretend to be somebody else then serve nearly three weeks in jail because of it seems ridiculous.
"The whole situation could have been avoided if Mr Grandy and logged-on to the net and bought himself a cheap young driver car insurance policy - there's plenty to be found out there."