A man who was disqualified from driving has been banned once again after he undertook a test drive in view of police. Andrew Tosh came to the attention of officers after his passenger was seen getting out of the vehicle to complain about his skills behind the wheel.
Tosh had been been out with his girlfriend test-driving a Seat Leon in Oadby on Sunday, February 11 last year when she got out of her car in Harborough Road to complain about his driving. As Leicestershire Police officers pulled up behind the vehicle, Tosh and his girlfriend were seen to swap seats in the car.
This aroused their suspicions about him and checks would later find that Tosh was disqualified from driving. The 35-year-old also had no insurance.
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At Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (January 9), prosecutor Tracy Lovejoy said: “On February 11 last year the police noted some activity going on where a member of the public who had been following the defendant went to confront him about his driving.
“The police came up behind them and the defendant and his female passenger swapped seats. The officers carried out checks and found he had been disqualified.”
She said Tosh, who had 61 previous offences on his record including a number of driving offences, had been banned from driving in July 2023 and required to take an extended re-test before being allowed to drive again – but had not taken it.
Police saw banned driver Andrew Tosh swap seats with his girlfriend as they approached them in Harborough Road, Oadby
(Image: Google)
Roshni Modi, representing Tosh, told the court: “He had been test-driving the car because his partner had been seeking to buy the car. She wasn’t comfortable driving on the road and he was driving to another location where she could drive it herself.
“He suffers from mental health difficulties and although that’s not an excuse, that has an impact on his thought processes.” The magistrates also read a pre-sentence report about the help the Probation Service could give Tosh.
Tosh, who had already pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and having no insurance, was given a 24-month community order with 20 days on Probation Service and a six-month mental health treatment requirement. He was ordered to pay a £114 victim surcharge. He was also banned from driving for the next 12 months but will still have to pass his extended re-test before he can drive again.
The chair of the magistrates bench, Rachel Udein, warned Tosh he would probably go to prison if he drove again before completing the re-test. She said: “If you drive again you’re going to end up in Welford Road and you don’t want that.”