Cabbie's fare is banned driver who smashed into his taxi and gave false detailsA BANNED driver couldn't believe his bad luck when a taxi driver he had duped months earlier turned up on his doorstep for a fare.
Corey Alison gave a false name and address when he smashed into the back of a cab in Billingham, near Stockton, in August 2013.
The cabbie visited the house and realised the occupant was not the person who had been behind the wheel of the green Peugeot 307.
Almost eight months later, the driver was called to a fare at Alison's Stockton home - and immediately recognised the 18-year-old.
An identification parade was held by police, and the teenager was again picked out, prosecutor Jenny Haigh told Teesside Crown Court.
Alison pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, but dodged jail after a judge heard how he had matured since the incident.
Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said: "This young man has turned the corner. It's a phrase we often deploy, something of a cliche, but in this case there appears to be something to back it up.
"He has a very regrettable record, but all of the offences were when he was a youth, as was this one. There has to be taken into consideration, the maturation that has occurred since then."
The court heard how the accident happened on Low Grange Avenue, Billingham, when Alison and the taxi driver swapped details for insurance purposes.
Alison has three previous convictions for driving without insurance, and has been disqualified twice, and should not have been behind the wheel.
Miss Haigh said: "He was only apprehended by sheer good fortune, when the same taxi driver he had run into came to his address and recognised the defendant."
The court heard yesterday that the teenager, of Norton Road, Stockton, has 31 offences on his record.
Mr McReddie said Alison had complied "excellently" with his latest court order, imposed in June for criminal damage, and has a job for the first time in his life.
Judge Michael Taylor imposed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with Probation Service supervision.
He told Alison: "Courts always regard perverting the course of justice as serious.
"It seems you have found employment. Hopefully, therefore, in the future you will not be a drain on the public purse.
"You have an appalling record as a juvenile. This offence occurred over 12 months ago, and it seems since that time your behaviour has improved."
source:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11548768._/
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