His half-baked idea of using a fake identity document in the name of another man was quickly torpedoed
A banned driver’s crafty plan to avoid getting into serious trouble with the police if he got caught behind the wheel of a vehicle backfired badly when he landed himself with even bigger problems – and ended up being jailed. His half-baked idea of using a fake identity document in the name of another man was quickly torpedoed when his emails and mobile phone revealed his real details.
His attempted cover-up of being a banned driver was “pre-planned and deliberate” and was doomed to failure, Hull Crown Court heard. Radoslav Czubinski, 49, of Folkestone Street, off Beverley Road, Hull, but recently in custody on remand, admitted perverting the course of justice, possessing a false identity document, obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty and two offences each of driving while disqualified and having no insurance.
Judge Richard Woolfall said that Czubinski had been banned from driving by Hull magistrates on February 18 this year for driving while disqualified and having no insurance on December 16 last year. He had been banned from driving for 15 months.
But in an attempt “defeat that ban” later, he obtained a false driving licence or identity document in the name of another man. He was stopped in Spring Bank, west Hull, on May 2 while driving a van.
“You produced that Lithuanian driver’s licence with your photograph on it in that false name,” said Judge Woolfall. A traffic report was sent to the police central ticket office in that name.
Czubinski was stopped driving the same van in Durban Road, Grimsby, on July 29. “On that occasion, you produced a Polish driving licence,” said Judge Woolfall. Czubinski also produced a Lithuanian licence in the name of the man in the first incident.
A police officer asked for access to Czubinski’s emails and mobile phone and noted that they were in the name of him. He told police that the other man was a friend of his.
“Police did further checks and realised that you had, of course, been disqualified,” said Judge Woolfall. Czubinski was confirmed to be not the other man.
During police interview on August 8, Czubinski claimed that he did not have any real memory of what happened and he denied attempting to mislead police. He claimed that he could not remember whether he had driven while banned.
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He admitted buying the fake document online with the intention of having it with him if he was stopped for driving while disqualified. “It was pre-planned and deliberate and your motivation was to enable you to drive and disregard the fact that you had been disqualified,” said Judge Woolfall.
“You were doing this to avoid getting into trouble for driving while disqualified. This offence is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Stephen Robinson, mitigating, said that Czubinski had suffered problems. He had been in custody for nearly four months.
Czubinski, who was helped in court by a Polish interpreter, was jailed for 15 months and he was banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.