Learning to drive is an expensive, time-consuming and often demoralising business. Many UK learners end up spending upwards of £1000 on lessons and test fees alone, to say nothing about the cost of a first car and car insurance for young drivers when you pass.
There used to be another way. All you needed was £500 and a passing resemblance to Winfred Kodjovie and you were set.
But sadly, Mr Kodjovie, veteran of as many as 110 tests, is now behind bars. The hospital worker is known to have obtained at least 60 licences for paying clients, netting him an estimated £50,000 in the years between 2003 and 2005.
Kodjovie, who came to Britain in 1991 to train as an accountant, was know as a safe bet among those look-alikes who for one reason or another didn't want to obtain licences the usual way.
The father-of-one, who was himself banned from driving, had a 71 percent pass rate on the practical test and an incredible 100 percent on the theory. He relied on fake identity cards and the short-sightedness of examiners to exploit the Driving Standards Agency's (DSA) supposedly foolproof testing system.
DSA workers finally caught on to the scam when Kodjovie, a black man, showed up for a test as the distinctly Eastern European-sounding "Geirgi Uka". He was later arrested in June 2005 for trying to take three tests on the same day.
The judge at St Albans Crown Court sentenced him to 21 months in prison and banned him from driving for a further three years.
"I'm a bit concerned that examiners took so long to catch him out," said Hoot spokesperson Mike page, an expert on car insurance for young drivers.
"I'd prefer it if the men and women who get to decide whether or not learner drivers are ready for the thrill of driving solo (and the nasty motor insurance quotes that go with it) could spot a faker sat two feet away from them," he added.