"Skewed" man drove while disqualified to dodge parking fine

Friday 21 December 2018

A man has been given a fine and a community service order after witnesses filmed him driving his car while he was disqualified from doing so by the Court.

But Jason Horsepool, 35, was not trying to drive any distance. He just wanted to move his car around within the same parking space to try and trick traffic wardens out of giving him a ticket.

Horsepool had been disqualified from driving for 12 months at the end of May 2016, but then on 6 May 2017, just 21 days before that disqualification was up, he was caught driving his car six foot forwards, out of a 23 hour space, before reversing back into it.

The space was just outside his partner's property, and he had left his Mercedes there during his disqualification. At first, Horsepool left a note on the windscreen telling traffic wardens he would "contest any parking tickets" he received for parking over time, because he was off of the roads. But at some point, he decided to move the car to try and dodge a ticket entirely. 

He was seen by witnesses doing that, and knowing he was banned from driving, they filmed him.

Pictured: Horsepool was trying to cheat a parking ticket by moving his car - but at the time he was disqualified from driving. 

Despite the video evidence, Horsepool denied that he actually drove the car, claiming another man had done so. He refused to give the other man's name. 

Judge Cherry McMillan found him guilty at trial last month of both driving without insurance, and driving while disqualified. She said his story of another man, whom he refused to name, was "fanciful", and said the fact he continued to lie to the court throughout the proceedings showed he was "skewed and ego centric".

Sentencing him, she said: "I can give no credit to you because you entered a plea of Not Guilty on what I would describe as a fanciful defence in which a mystery man appeared and drove the car for you. This is despite the fact that I was watching CCTV where it seemed obvious that you were the one driving the vehicle.

"If you think about it, when you first appeared before the court in 2017, this could have been resolved there, along with any punishment, but a trial had to go ahead.

"I accept that you were not planning on driving around the island, but in fact, you did it in an attempt to avoid defeat other legislation [the parking fine], and in doing so, were in breach of a court order." 

Despite a criminal record with 16 separate entries for driving offences, Judge McMillan said she did want to take into account the fact that Horsepool had gone from 2008 to 2016 without offending, and gave him credit for that eight year period.

In total, he was sentenced to a 60 hour community service order as an alternative to six weeks in prison for the first charge, and a £400 fine for driving without insurance. Judge McMillan said she wanted that money as soon as possible, and suggested Horsepool sell the car if necessary, as he would not be needing it for another 12 months - she imposed a further year long driving ban as well. 

Pictured: Guernsey's court building.