Man drives without license for 40 years

Leprechaun312 · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:23

A man stopped by motorway police told them he has been driving without a licence for the past 40 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-24571342

How on earth did they manage to miss this?

McGray · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:28

And why did he tell them?

phil675 · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:28

I so rarely see police around here you could get away with it. I know a girl who drove with no licence insurance or tax for a few years, so did her mum, and she drove to a motorway service station for work every morning!

phil675 · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:29

McGray said:
And why did he tell them?

They probably just looked him up, although I wonder why he was pulled over.

i5aces · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:31

I wonder if he was insured and taxed, I would have thought ANPR would have picked him up

tom_e · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:33

i5aces said:
I wonder if he was insured and taxed, I would have thought ANPR would have picked him up

The article says he wasn't insured either.

d_brennen · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:35

Penalties for driving without the appropriate licence include a fine of £1,000, a driving ban, and being prevented from obtaining a licence for a period of years.

This will affect him how? He's already quids in from never having insurance

Cosimo · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:37

i5aces said:
I wonder if he was insured and taxed, I would have thought ANPR would have picked him up

Just driving around locally where there are no cameras.

HumanShield · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:38

d_brennen said:
This will affect him how? He's already quids in from never having insurance

And it's not like he'll be too concerned about not being able to get a license!

Resident · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:42

phil675 said:
They probably just looked him up, although I wonder why he was pulled over.

Might have been this:

The unlicensed driver also had no insurance

The list of possible penalties for driving without a licence always makes me laugh. Fair enough the fine but the rest

"a driving ban, and being prevented from obtaining a licence for a period of years"

Right so they've not bothered with a licence in the first place so why would a ban and it being difficult to get a licence matter at all to them.

McGray · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:42

phil675 said:
They probably just looked him up, although I wonder why he was pulled over.

Looked him up how?

If he's never had a licence or insurance there will be no motoring record for him.

Just some old geezer gassing that he's been driving for 40 years without a licence to OB.

tom_e · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:43

If you think about it as long as the cars insured, taxed and you give them no reason to pull you over then you could drive without a licence for as long as you liked.

McGray · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:44

If you don't have a licence, you don't have insurance.

tom_e · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:46

McGray said:
If you don't have a licence, you don't have insurance.

it doesn't need to be insured under his name.

Bommy · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:46

Resident said:
The list of possible penalties for driving without a licence always makes me laugh. Fair enough the fine but the rest

"a driving ban, and being prevented from obtaining a licence for a period of years"

Right so they've not bothered with a licence in the first place so why would a ban and it being difficult to get a licence matter at all to them.

Although a £1000 fine isn't massive, not compared to the amount he's saved by not paying for insurance for 40 years!

Hyburnate · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:50

d_brennen said:
This will affect him how? He's already quids in from never having insurance

That's silly. I don't smoke nor drink that doesn't mean I'm quids in from not doing it. I don't skydive either, I still don't have the money to do all those things

tom_e · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:52

Hyburnate said:
That's silly. I don't smoke nor drink that doesn't mean I'm quids in from not doing it. I don't skydive either, I still don't have the money to do all those things

but if you did smoke or drink and you got it all for free then you would be quids in.

McGray · 18 Oct 2013 at 11:53

Hyburnate said:
That's silly. I don't smoke nor drink that doesn't mean I'm quids in from not doing it. I don't skydive either, I still don't have the money to do all those things

That does't make any sense lol.

wingman · 18 Oct 2013 at 12:00

Hyburnate said:
That's silly. I don't smoke nor drink that doesn't mean I'm quids in from not doing it. I don't skydive either, I still don't have the money to do all those things

McGray said:
That does't make any sense lol.

It does make sense, it's just not relative.

Insurance is a requirement by law if you wish to drive the vehicle.

nick.lidgett · 18 Oct 2013 at 12:20

In my ill spent youth i racked up 6 points very quickly and had my full license revoked, that ment a re-test, it also ment the likely hood of losing my job and falling on very hard times, so with a guilty consience i kept driving on my provisional for the 3 months it took me to re take my theory test, hage a refresher course and pass my driving test.
It was wrong on so many levels, now when i look back and think "what if i hit and killed somebody" it still knots my stomach so to do it for 40 years, WTF?
Driving around for those few months put a huge strain on my consience, always looking over my shoulder, worrying about getting caught, i dont know how this guy could keep it up for so long, knowing what he was doing was wrong.
Now i have all my particulars and im a lot wiser in the world i wouldnt dream of doing similar but at the time i was young and stupid and on a good crack and i was so scared of losing it all i took a massive risk out of sheer desperation.
To this day most of my family still have not got a clue what i was upto back then and its still a secret that pains me to keep as we are a very open family.