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Speeding taxi driver avoids jail after lying about driver
A taxi driver has escaped a prison sentence after trying to deceive police over a speeding ticket.
62-year-old Mohammed Malik claimed a mechanic was driving his Toyota Avensis when it was clocked travelling at 37mph in a 30 zone in Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, in april last year.
Officers then wrote to the man Malik claimed was his mechanic, only to have the letter returned saying he no longer lived at the address given.
This aroused more suspicion, so police then spoke to the cabbie's firm to get a print out of his journeys on the day in question - they clearly showed Malik had actually picked up a fare at the time, with the person clearly visible on speeding camera footage sitting in the back seat.
Still, Malik insisted it was his mechanic at the wheel.
Police went to the address Malik claimed his mechanic worked from, and found it was a residential property that had never been a garage.
With the evidence stacking against him, Malik finally admitted the speeding offence and was subsequently charged with perverting the course of justice for lying about who was behind the wheel.
The driver, of Coleshill Road, Ward End, pleaded guilty to the charge and on 31 March he was handed a four month prison sentence - suspended for 18 months - plus 80 hours unpaid work and costs of £400. He was also banned from driving for six months.
Malik may have avoided jail but the suspended sentence is hanging over him for the next year-and-a-half and it’s likely he will now be stripped of his taxi licence.
With no livelihood, clearly this will have a huge impact on his life and he will have to ask himself if all his lies were worth the risk.
We hope this case serves as a warning to others that lying to the police and the authorities is a serious offence and can ultimately land you behind bars.
– PC Steve Jevons, West Midlands Police
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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