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But cyclists should need licences? Woman jailed for taking 150 driving tests for others

“Circumventing the tests puts lives in danger,” said Caroline Hicks of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

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.”

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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21 comments

Avatar
IanMK | 2 years ago
1 like

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.

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lio | 2 years ago
10 likes

"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.

Avatar
JimM777 | 2 years ago
3 likes

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?

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Ratfink replied to JimM777 | 2 years ago
1 like

Thousands, I first heard of someone doing this in N London in the late 80's.

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Sriracha replied to Ratfink | 2 years ago
1 like

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.

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wycombewheeler replied to JimM777 | 2 years ago
2 likes
JimM777 wrote:

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?

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.

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cbrndc | 2 years ago
0 likes

She should be banned from driving and ordered to take a retest; that'll learn her.

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andystow | 2 years ago
17 likes

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.

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NOtotheEU | 2 years ago
1 like

"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.

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Hirsute replied to NOtotheEU | 2 years ago
0 likes

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)

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Miller replied to NOtotheEU | 2 years ago
3 likes

On a point of grammar, that 'flaunt' should be a 'flout'.

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Steve K replied to Miller | 2 years ago
2 likes

Strictly speaking, I think that's a malapropism rather than a grammatical error.

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Rome73 replied to NOtotheEU | 2 years ago
0 likes

No one will be visiting the bereaved though. 

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Patrick9-32 | 2 years ago
10 likes

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. 

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brooksby replied to Patrick9-32 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

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.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
5 likes

That would suggest there's no penalty for all the driving without a licence they've done meantime though...

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nosferatu1001 replied to Dnnnnnn | 2 years ago
1 like

Dnnnnnn wrote:

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 

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Trikemanity replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

I think the key word there is "could"

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brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

Quote:

who argued in court that Kaur was motivated by greed

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.

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Miller replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

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.

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Drinfinity replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

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. 

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