A disqualified driver was caught when a police officer spotted a child unsecured in the front of a Transit van in Swindon.
The eagle-eyed officer instructed her colleague to turn the police car around and caught sight of the vehicle a second time before pulling it over in Oxford Road.
Shane Maslen, 33, appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning charged with driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance on 7 September 2020. He pleaded guilty to the offence.
Natalie Cheeseman, prosecuting, said two young children – described as around three years old – were found to be unrestrained in the vehicle. There were also no car seats in place.
The defendant, of Shearwood Road, Peatmoor, told officers he was disqualified from driving. He added that his two children had wanted to ride in the van with him, so he couldn’t refuse.
The court heard Maslen has a number of previous convictions, including two offences of driving whilst disqualified in 2017 and 2016. He was most recently banned from driving by the DVLA in 2019 after an accumulation of points.
Defence solicitor Gordon Hotson said his client had borrowed the van to collect a freezer, washing machine and cooker after he was “messed around” by people offering to collect the items for him for two weeks.
He took a “foolish decision” to borrow a van and collect them himself because he needed to replace his faulty white goods in order to wash and cook for his children.
Maslen is currently unemployed with unpaid court fines totalling more than £4,000.
Magistrates imposed a nine-week prison sentence but suspended it for two years. They also banned him from driving for a further 18 months. He must also pay a £156 victim surcharge.
