Michael (or Mitchell, in some stories) Gough, 24, had his driving test booked. According to his story to the courts, his mother’s car had broken down and she was unable to take him to his test, so he decide to drive there himself in a BMW.
For reasons which haven’t been explained, the plates on his BMW (it doesn’t say whose car this was… EDIT: apparently it was a high-powered BMW, and it belonged to Gough) were actually the ones for his father’s Fiat (that isn’t explained, either). A police patrol car flagged this discrepancy up to the officers within, so the officers tried to flag Gough down. When they asked him to open the door he floored it and embarked upon a 70mph chase through 30mph zones. He ended up smashing into a parked car, and was caught as he tried to do a runner.
This specimen’s lawyer explained that:
…his actions were out of character: “[Gough] was very anxious to take his test. When he was stopped he made a decision which was totally out of character – it is baffling that he behaved this way,” adding that his decision to drive away from police was, “foolish”.
Let’s just recap what Gough was guilty of:
- driving whilst uninsured
- failing to stop for the police
- driving on false plates
- breaking the speed limit
- being involved in an accident due to his own dangerous driving
- attempting to leave the scene of an accident
- trying to resist arrest
For someone who was acting “out of character” he sure chose a good way to experiment, didn’t he? The report continues:
It’s not yet clear why the number plates had been swapped over, but we do know it was a police search for a stolen BMW in the area that lead to police attempting to pull him over.
So there is also the suspicion of a stolen the car with false plates being used for the proposed driving test!
So, Gough hasn’t passed his test and yet he owns a “high-powered” BMW. It had as-yet unexplained false plates that alerted the police. Gough was prepared to drive off (and if he knew he had false plates, that provides something of a more valid reason than the pathetic “out of character” claim by his lawyer). He leapt from the car while it was still moving – a favoured skill of the car thief – to try and run away (you don’t do that without having had practice). The photograph of him shows him wearing a hoodie and with what looks like a fag cupped in his hand. He has been banned for 30 months and given a suspended prison sentence.
Unfortunately, it appears that he is a father. God help the kid with a role model like this to look up to.