Lying Wakefield driver jailed over elaborate ploy to avoid simple speeding fine

Liaqat Hayat was clocked driving at 38mph in a 30mph in May 2021, and despite later being told he could take part in a speed-awareness course, spent months maintaining it was not him behind the wheel of the Toyota.

A letter was first sent to the his address on Belle Vue Road in Wakefield, but was returned amid claims the guilty man lived nearby on Agbrigg Road.

Prosecutor Carmel Pearson told Leeds Crown Court that a second letter was then sent to the subsequent address, but again returned. However, it aroused suspicion after the handwriting was identical to Hayat’s from the first letter.

In June, a further letter was posted out offering the guilty driver a chance to take the speed-awareness court rather than points, but it was returned again with “not known at this address”.

The police visited the Agbrigg Road address in October 2021 where the landlord confirmed he had not heard of the second man, but knew Hayat as one of his tenants. They caught up with the 48-year-old working at a local carpet shop, but he became evasive when quizzed by officers and denied any knowledge of the offence, despite the Toyota being parked outside.

Further investigation found that the second man existed, and when police spoke with him, he told them his driving licence had been previously stolen and he had received numerous traffic violations since – suggesting his documents were being fraudulently used by several drivers. Hayat eventually admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Mitigating, Ella Embleton said Hayat, who is originally from Pakistan and moved to the UK in 2005, was scared of prison after a bad experience with his one previous conviction in 2019.

She added: “It seems a rather stupid error but he became so fearful of any punishment, even that of speeding, it led to this offence. It does not excuse it by any means. Had he accepted it from the start he would have got three penalty points and £100 fine. He appreciates what he has done is foolish and should never have got himself into this position.”

While he admitted it appeared trivial from the outset, Judge Simon Batiste said attempts to pervert the course of justice were taken very seriously by the courts, and so jailed Hayat for eight months.

He told him: “You kept up the pretence over a period of months. You have photos and documents related to this second driver. You have been far from straightforward in these proceedings.

"These offences go against the very basis of the justice system. People who intend to pervert the course of justice will receive immediate prison sentences. The message must must go out that when people are caught then they will receive a prison sentence. You would have received penalty points and a fine, but you chose to pervert the course of justice.”