Chesterfield Magistrates' Court hears how Nottinghamshire man who moved house 'didn't know about driving ban'

Florin Falcaru was stopped by police on January 16 on Gapsick Lane, Clowne, where the 32-year-old readily produced his driving licence, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Tuesday, March 3.

But when officers checked his details it emerged that he had been disqualified as a ‘totter’ for six months in November, said Becky Allsop, prosecuting.

“Police carried out a stop check on a Mercedes vehicle and the defendant was able to produce his driving licence,” she said.

The court was told that Falcaru, who admitted driving while disqualified and driving without insurance, had previously lived in a shared house in Watson Road, Worksop, but had moved to a new address in Victoria Road in the town, and the court summons had not been forwarded to him.

Mitigating, Kirsty Sergent said: “He moved to a new address about six months ago, and he had hoped that his former housemates would have forwarded any paperwork to him. He was unaware that he was disqualified and he thought he was able to drive and he hasn’t driven since he was stopped.”

She added that Falcaru had had a period away from the UK visiting his mother in Romania, but had returned to Worksop and was working in a factory.

District Judge Andrew Davison banned Falcaru for a further six months and fined him a total of £500, and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge.