Car insurance news

Ban for drink - driver with no car insurance

A motorist with no car insurance who was found to be one milligramme over the drink-drive limit has been banned for 12 months.

Paul Bagonza admitted driving a car with excess alcohol, driving without a licence and having no motor insurance at Crawley Magistrates Court, and in addition to his ban was fined £305 and given two penalty points.

Mr Bagonza was driving a Nissan Sunny when police stopped him at 3am on September 21 st 2005. They smelt alcohol on his breath and subsequently took a blood sample which showed he had 81 milligrames of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

So marginally over the limit was the test result that the 27-year-old kept the spare blood sample police gave him in his fridge in order to get it re-tested. When he took it to laboratories, however, he was told that the sample was too old and could not be used.

Tony Hamnett, mitigating, told magistrates he had never seen a case where the alcohol reading was so close to the limit, and urged the bench to be lenient. He also added that Boganza believed he had valid car insurance and that his Ugandan driving licence would cover him for motoring in the UK .

But the court refused to show pity on Mr Boganza and he was given his fine, ban and points, meaning that when he eventually comes to apply for insurance, the chances of finding a firm willing to give him a cheap car insurance deal will be fairly slim.