Man with genuine driving license sent to jail for four months...

[Gromit]

...and he was just a passenger in the vehicle.

Bungling cops wrongly thought his photo should have been in black and white but it was in colour. So he was arrested for having a fake licence. He was charged and was sent to Strangeways until the DVLA got around to confirming it was real, FOUR MONTHS later.

Meanwhile, they are letting murders and rapists out early because the prisons are over crowded. And what a terrible waste of money and resources, not to mention the compensation he will receive. And you can bet no one will be suspended or lose their job for such gross incompetence.

How much would you want for four months in jail, if you were mistakenly charged?

[Gromit]

It is forgiveable for ABers not to know about Driving Licenses, but you would hope the people responsible or enforcing the law would be up to speed. But when your lack of knowledge of your job wastes tens of thousands of pounds of public money and there are no personal reprecussions to your negligence, then there is little incentive to make an effort to be on top of your job.

[jake-the-peg]

Hang on

Is this the Daily Mail sticking up for an Asylum Seeker?

Is it April 1st already?

[EDDIE51]

Still can't see how this happened, when you see the 'police' programes on TV they get answers to if the driver had a licence in seconds over the radio.

[mushroom25]

you can bet that if it is determined there is a compensation entitlement in this case, it will of course be reduced by the amount of a 4 months "board and lodging" deduction for his stay at the Strangeways Hotel.

[anotheoldgit]

I suspect that there is something more to this than what is reported.

Even if some rookie cop seemed to think that passport photo were black & white, why did his charge sergeant also think the same, not to mention the CPS.

Incidentally how come an asylum seeker managed to get himself a British driving licence, perhaps this was the false document he got jailed for, along with no insurance perhaps?

Before one speculates just to have a go at the police, perhaps we should wait to see the full outcome of this case.

[EDDIE51]

AOG READ THE QUESTION
The licence was genuine and the man was not driving , he was just a passenger , he offered the licence as id and was arrested. You do not need insurance to be a passenger

[jno]

everyone was right about the photo: they used to be coloured, now they're black and white. The real issue is why the police took so long to check their facts (as Eddie says, they're supposed to be able to do this instantly) and why the guy was in jail for months until they got round to it.

This could happen to any of us, so it's a cause for concern.

[DTCwordfan]

Surely it doesn't take any defence lawyer FOUR months to contact DVLA

What happened to a writ of Habeus Corpus........?

[HowardKennitby]

I am not underststanding why a black and white image is regarded as more secure than a coloured one. Can anyone explain?

[anotheoldgit]

EDDIE51

I have read the question, but that does not necessary make it the truth.

/// The licence was genuine and the man was not driving , he was just a passenger ///

Who says he was just a passenger?

It was reported that the car was illegally double parked, and the driver had gone to a cash machine.

How do we know that he was speaking the truth, and in fact he was the driver, a asylum seeker with a provisional licence, and illegally parked?

[jno]

aog, you're missing the point by a country mile.

He was charged with having fake ID.

He didn't have fake ID. It was genuine. The police didn't seem to know what driving licences actually look like, and between them and the CPS it took four months to get around to checking it, while he was stuck behind bars.

[anotheoldgit]

Still doesn't answer the question, how did an asylum seeker come to be in possession of a British Provisional Driving Licence?

[jackthehat]

He had obviously proceeded through the correct channels because he also showed the officers his NHS card and his NI card........*all* legitimate, before you start...

[Old_Geezer]

I hope they don't stop me, mine has no photo so Gawd knows what they'd make of that.

[jno]

you have a different question every time you post, aog - and yet you don't have an answer to Gromit's question?

[anotheoldgit]

I may be mistaken, and asylum seekers are allowed driving licences, but apparently no more.

I don't know how long he has held this licence, or how long he has been in England, but this report is dated March 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk..._politics/8587223.stm

[jno]

he's held the licence long enough for it to be in colour, so that's 2007 or earlier.

[jackthehat]

The fact that he was in possession of legal legitimate documents shows that he had satisfied the authorities (did they not, in turn, confirm the details with you, AOG? How very remiss of them!) that he had entitlement to them.

[sp1814]

AOG

There may be provision for asylum seekers to hold provisional driving licences. I tried to establish whether this is true at:

http://www.yourrights...immigrants/index.html

but the site is badly written in that when you click on a link, you're taken right back to the index screen.

[anotheoldgit]

jackthehat

No need to be so damn sarcastic, this is only a discussion, and I am only entering my own particular perspective on the matter, as everyone else is allowed to do so, without the need for your usual snide remarks.