Banned driver caught behind wheel in Outwell

A Welney man has been fined £660 almost a year after being caught driving while disqualified.

Andrew William Villis, 53, did not appear before King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday as scheduled but the case was proven in his absence.

He had written to the court to request a three-month adjournment in order to instruct solicitors but the bench ruled that he had already had long enough to do that.

The hearing was told that police stopped a Ford Transit van in Basin Road, Outwell, on December 28 last year after receiving information that it was stolen.

The driver - Villis - was arrested and recovery of the van was arranged. Checks showed that he was a disqualified driver and he was further arrested for that offence.

In police interview, Villis, of Wisbech Road, said the theft matter was down to a business dispute.

He also claimed he wasn’t disqualified because he had successfully appealed a six-month ban for totting up and it was reduced to three months.

The Lynn hearing was told that Villis’s ban had indeed been cut but the disqualification had started on October 9 and the latest offence occurred within three months.

Alongside the fine, magistrates gave Villis six penalty points and ordered him to pay £105 costs and £66 victim surcharge.