A banned County Durham driver has been given short shrift by South Cumbria Magistrates when he applied for the early removal of his disqualification.
Stephen Heslop, of Mafeking Terrace, Sacriston, asked Magistrates to shorten a 60-month disqualification he received for drink driving on 23rd June 2017.
As discussed in one of our earlier articles, section 42(1) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 allows a disqualified driver to apply to the court that imposed the disqualification to have that disqualification removed.
The court isn't obliged to remove the disqualification, but it may be persuaded to do so having taken into account the circumstances of the original offence and the conduct of the driver since their disqualification. In the event that the court refuses, a fresh application can't be made for a further 3 months.
Applications like this are very rare. I certainly can't recall the media reporting on one. A lot of people reading this will be astonished, just like I was, that a disqualified driver even has the option of making such an application.
The June 2017 conviction was Heslop's fourth for drink driving since 1998. Furthermore, he was convicted of driving whilst disqualified in 2019.
Having made the long journey to Barrow-in-Furness, Heslop told Magistrates that he needed his licence for work.
"Currently I'm working in Redcar. It's quite a distance from County Durham," he said.
"We were van sharing until covid started.
"My job is very important to me. I rely on it to bring in income to my household."
Heslop explained that his partner had been driving him the 40 miles to work each morning, but a change of job meant she was no longer able to.
He told Magistrates that he would need to leave home at 4.30 am in order to catch a bus arriving in Redcar for 7 am.
Speaking of his 2019 conviction, Heslop said "it was just stupid".
He explained that he had been test driving a car he had just repaired for his daughter.
Having considered Heslop's circumstances and driving record, Magistrates decided to refuse his application.
Gillian Sutton, Presiding Justice, said: "It's very rare for someone to be convicted of drink driving on four occasions.
"Also since you were last disqualified there has been a blatant disregard for the law and we refuse the application."
They clearly don't stand for any nonsense in South Cumbria!
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