Uninsured driver not jailed

The first person to be charged with causing death by driving without insurance, David Pescod, has been spared jail after admitting killing cyclist Michael Turner, 18, the Newcastle Journal reports.

The 18-year-old died in a collision with Pescod’s Citroen C2 in Ashington, Northumberland, last March.

Although his driving had not been at fault, Pescod had no valid insurance and therefore should not have been on the road at all. The new offence came in in 2008 and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Suspended sentence

Judge David Hodson at Newcastle Crown Court sentenced Pescod to 16 weeks in prison, but suspended the sentence for 12 months.

Pescod, 23, of North View, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, had been delivering pizzas. Police accident investigators found no fault with speed or his driving, and said the crash had occurred at low speed.

But Pescod had defaulted on insurance payments and his policy had been cancelled months before. He had twice failed to produce a valid insurance certificate after being stopped by police in the weeks before the crash.

Guilty plea

Pescod, who had no previous convictions, last month pleaded guilty to causing death while uninsured and having defective tyres on the day of the crash.

Judge David Hodson said: “It should be brought home to everyone that if anyone is tempted to take a vehicle on to a road when they are not insured and a death occurs that driver will be facing a sentence of imprisonment.”

Pescod also admitted driving without insurance and having defective tyres on February 28 and March 5 last year. No further sentences were passed for the additional charges.