We’re all used to, by now, the debate which every so often gets dragged up by certain media outlets concerning the so-called need for cyclists to undergo compulsory training and to have a licence and insurance to ride on public roads.
Just last month, Scotland Tonight kickstarted the latest ‘Should cyclists need licences?’ “discussion”, after hosting a debate in which a motoring journalist and cyclist went “head-to-head on whether road cycling should be regulated”.
That segment was soon followed up by Aberdeen-based newspaper The Press and Journal asking its readers: “Should cycling on main roads be banned until you have a licence?”
South of the Tweed, CambridgeshireLive ran a vox pop article the following week which featured insights from readers on whether cyclists should be required to have insurance, while that same day, Channel 4 show Steph’s Packed Lunch posted a Twitter poll asking viewers if “cycling on main roads should be banned until you have a licence?”
The poll, which saw over 83 percent of participants vote against cycling licences, received plenty of criticism from active travel advocates, with one reply calling it “clickbait nonsense” and another “mad crankery”.
> Cycling licence 'debate' reignited by Channel 4 show and Scotland Tonight
While the apparent need for cycling licences continues to rear its head in the media with increasing regularity (despite the government saying it has “no plans” to introduce legislation), it turns out that around 150 motorists were taking to the roads in London, Birmingham, Swansea, and Carmarthen during the last four years having not actually passed their driving test.
YorkshireLive has reported that a 29-year-old woman from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire was jailed this week for eight months after admitting to taking roughly 150 theory and practical tests for other drivers across England and Wales between 2018 and 2020.
Inderjeet Kaur told Swansea Crown Court that she offered to take the tests for people who had difficulty speaking English.
She was arrested after suspicion grew at test centres that the 29-year-old was impersonating genuine candidates, prompting an investigation by police in South Wales.
> Mr Loophole's cyclist ID petition "gathers momentum" says BBC – except it closed last week
Detective Chief Inspector Steven Maloney, who argued in court that Kaur was motivated by greed, said: “The crimes Kaur committed circumvent the driving test process and, in turn, put innocent road users at risk, by allowing unskilled and dangerous motorists to have seemingly legitimate licences.
“Safety on our roads has always been a priority and arresting those that flaunt the law ensures that we can keep unqualified drivers off the road.
“Frauds such as these pose significant risks to the general public, and I urge any members of the public with information on such crimes to report them to the police.”
Following Kaur’s sentencing, Caroline Hicks of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency confirmed that the fraudulently-gained test passes could be cancelled and the licences of those who “passed” the tests revoked.
“DVSA’s priority is to protect everyone from unsafe drivers and vehicles,” Hicks said.
“Driving and theory tests exist to help ensure people have the correct knowledge, skills and attitude to drive on our roads.
“Circumventing the tests puts lives in danger.”
Add new comment
21 comments
If she was paid (in cash?) and hasn't declared the income then that's tax fraud as well. Surely a deal could be done to persuade her to give up names.
"Following Kaur’s sentencing, Caroline Hicks of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency confirmed that the fraudulently-gained test passes could be cancelled and the licences of those who “passed” the tests revoked."
They shouldn't just have their tests revoked, they should be prosecuted for fraud and at the very least be banned from driving. This didn't happen by accident, they knew exactly what they were doing.
So our knowledge is now that there have been at least 150 drivers on the road that didn't pass the test. Who knows how many other there are? After all, she was only caught because she did so many. How many others are there whose friend, brother, etc did the test for them?
Thousands, I first heard of someone doing this in N London in the late 80's.
Bloke at work was quite happy to tell me he sat his brother's test (or was it the other way around?). He was called Mr Singh, and told me this was one benefit of them "all looking the same", apparently (his words, not mine). This was donkey's years ago.
Drivers who COULDN'T pass the test. No one pays someone large sums to take the test if they haven't at least tried to pass a few times.
She should be banned from driving and ordered to take a retest; that'll learn her.
It's too bad she's going to jail, because surely since she's passed the test 150 times they're now removing the safest driver in the entire UK from the roads.
"Safety on our roads has always been a priority and arresting those that flaunt the law ensures that we can keep unqualified drivers off the road."
That way when we visit bereaved families they won't feel so bad knowing that the driver who 'accidentally' killed their loved one was licenced and insured.
Momentary lapse like the banned driver who worked for a garage pleaded in mitigation when crashing his car whilst banned.
(In the car hits building thread)
On a point of grammar, that 'flaunt' should be a 'flout'.
Strictly speaking, I think that's a malapropism rather than a grammatical error.
No one will be visiting the bereaved though.
The 150 people she took tests for surely could be identified? If so they should also recieve some harsh penalties for deliberately defrauding the licensing system and driving without a license and therefore without insurance.
That would suggest there's no penalty for all the driving without a licence they've done meantime though...
the Dvsa isn't who would prosecute however - as this wou'd be fraud they would exp3ct the cps to do it
I think the key word there is "could"
Playing devil's advocate for a moment, given her name and what she said about doing it for people who had difficulty speaking English, could there also be a cultural element of "doing a favour for the cousins"?
Don't think that's a racist comment, but happy to be corrected.
Obviously she found that the people who had difficulty speaking English were a fruitful customer base. Also obviously, neither she nor her customers gave a shit about being let loose on the roads when they were barely able to drive.
You'd think it would be a simple matter to rescind all the licences identified as being involved.
Suppose a cyclist runs a fraud that involves their connections in the local road club. Would you say 'Given they wear Lycra at the weekend, is it a cultural element amongst cyclists?'.
No, there is no cultural element. There is plenty of fraud amongst groups of people with surnames like 'Smith' with English as a first language.