Cabbie banned from driving after trying to pass speeding fine on to roommate

A cabbie from Crawley has received a driving ban after trying to pass off a speeding offence to his roommate.

35 year old Muzammil Zawahir,  of The Birches, Crawley, received two penalty charge notices after being caught exceeding a 30mph speed limit in his silver Toyota Avensis on the A22 London Road, East Grinstead, on 19 May 2015 and 11 June 2015.

After being sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution, Zawahir nominated his housemate as the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offences.

Sussex Police’s Crawley Investigations team subsequently looked into the matter after the East Grinstead-based company which employed the driver carried out an initial investigation. It was then discovered that the nominated driver was found to be false.

Zawahir was then charged  by police with perverting the course of justice.

He denied the offences and the case was set for trial at Lewes Crown Court in July 2018. He then changed his plea to guilty. 

He was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work within 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £1,200 costs and a £115 victim surcharge. Mid Sussex District Council confirmed Zawahir’s taxi licence was revoked as a result of this case.