A blind motorist who drove for half a mile on a busy Black Country road, while allegedly verbally guided by a friend, has been banned from getting behind the wheel for three years.
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Omed Aziz was also told the law demanded he must take an extended driving test if he wanted to apply for a licence in the future.
Aziz, who lost both of his eyes in a bomb explosion in his Iraqi homeland, was also given a 12-week suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £364 prosecution costs when he appeared at Warley Magistrates Court yesterday.
Previously, prosecuting solicitor Peter Love asked Pc Glyn Austin, one of two officers who pulled Aziz over, if he had noticed anything about the driver. Pc Austin replied: “I did - he didn’t have any eyes, Your Worships.”
Chairman of the bench Richard Knight said yesterday that he had no choice but to punish Aziz, of Wednesbury, with a custodial sentence.
“We are therefore sending you to prison for 12 weeks and we have taken the decision to suspend that sentence for 12 months.”
Aziz, of Birmingham Street, who also has impaired hearing, suffers from leg tremors and has lost two fingers on his right hand,was found guilty of dangerous driving after a day-long trial last week. He had already admitted charges of driving without insurance and an MOT and not in accordance with a licence.
Magistrates refused to sentence Aziz yesterday until he took off the T-shirt he was wearing as it bore swear words.
Magistrates heard how Aziz reached speeds of up to 35 mph on a half mile route through Oldbury on St George’s Day.
Pc Glyn Austin told the court Aziz and a friend, who was allegedly giving instructions on steering and braking, were both arrested shortly after 11pm after their Peugeot was followed along Oldbury Ringway and into West Bromwich Street.
The former Tory leader of Sandwell Council today called for an investigation into the sentence handed out to Aziz. Councillor Karen Bissell branded the decision to ban him from driving for three years as “ludicrous”
“It beggar’s belief, an investigation needs to take place,” she said.
See related stories: Blind man caught driving
Your comments:
“The judge who gave him a three year ban deserves to be sacked. How on earth can you ban someone when they should not have a license in the first place.” Paul Bowen, Walsall
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