Ferrari driver racked up 48 licence points

FINED... Abdul Salam outside Oldham Magistrates’ Court

A DRIVER who clocked up to 48 points on his driving licence has been fined more than £1,300 by Oldham magisrates for making false statements to obtain insurance.

Abdul Salam, of Dearnalay Way, Oldham, declared that he had a full UK licence when applying for insurance to drive his Ferrari in February 2012 - despite his licence being revoked in September 2009.

Salam (31) was found to be driving on the invalid insurance when he was pulled over by a police officer who spotted him not wearing a seatbelt.

Officers checked his licence and found he had 48 points endorsed on it - though during the investigation the points total varied: some records showed only 27 points.

Self-employed businessman Salam claimed he didn’t know about the penalty points or that his licence had been revoked when he applied for insurance, but pleaded guilty to making false statements.

Jonathan Holt, defending, argued that Salam had not meant to mislead and, while the statements were false, he did not know them to be false when he made them. The law makes no distinctions about knowledge of the offence: a defendant can be guilty without realising it.

The insurance, from the Policy Shop, cost Salam £1,800 in February 2012. Salam’s car was later seized by Greater Manchester Police; Salam paid more than £13,000 to reclaim it.

The defendant, who had been banned from driving for two years in a separate case in February 2013, was fined £875 and ordered to pay costs of £487 - a total of £1,362.

A DVLA spokeswoman said it is up to the courts to decide when a driver is disqualified. by virtue of the number of points accrued.

A man from Liverpool had been allowed to continue driving despite clocking up 45 points on his licence, and an Oldham motorist was joint 12th from driving after amassing 27 points.