London drivers caught sleeping at the wheel or watching TikTok named and shamed
S
ome of London’s worst drivers have been named and shamed in court – though some swerved a driving ban.
Offending motorists have been spotted watching TikTok while behind the wheel or falling asleep.
One driver has been slapped with a fine for counting cash while driving.
Here are some of London’s most recent flagrant offenders behind the wheel:
SLEEPING TEACHER
Heaja Sadiq, 32, had only five hours sleep before a long day of teaching at Wimbledon College, and was on his way home when the incident happened.
Sadiq’s Toyota Prius had drifted out of his lane and into a head-on collision with another vehicle, in Carshalton in September last year.
Police were flagged down to the crash site, finding the badly damaged Prius laying across the pavement with its hazard lights on.
Google StreetView
“Mr Heaja Sadiq stated he had fallen asleep at the wheel”, said PC Hayden O’Connor.
“He stated that he had only had five hours sleep, had a long day teaching at college and was drowsy behind the wheel, and that he had fallen asleep for a short period.
“The other driver stated that the Prius went fully into his lane, colliding with him directly head-on. This was a few metres from a pelican crossing in an area with many schools and school children.”
To make matters worse for Sadiq, from Croydon, police discovered he was not insured to use the car to get to and from work.
GUILTY PLEA: £873 FINE, £349 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. EIGHT PENALTY POINTS
An extract of the police statement in the prosecution of Heaja Sadiq, who fell asleep while driving and hit another vehicle.
/ MPS
SUPERMARKET DOUGHNUT
Callum Boarder, 26, was hauled into court for driving without due care and attention in the Tesco[1] car park in Beverley Way, New Malden.
“He was drifting his vehicle and making doughnuts[2] around the mini roundabout at high speed”, said police.
“The passenger door was wide open… such that its use involved a danger of injury to any person.”
According to a Tweet from the local police team in 2021, it seems Boarder is not the only one who has used the Tesco car park for pulling doughnuts.
Boarder, from Leatherhead in Surrey, was prosecuted for the incident, which happened just before midnight on October 1 last year, as well as being taken to task for having no numberplates or horn on the BMW.
GUILTY PLEA: £426 FINE, £170 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. FIVE PENALTY POINTS
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION
Elon Musk recently caused a Twitter storm by limiting the amount of Tweets you can see each day. For some, there is no limit to the amount of time spent on social media. Some – it seems – can’t put it down even when they are driving
Harpreet Singh, 36, of Slough, was behind the wheel of a Mercedes on the A40 in west London when the standard of his driving came to police attention, a court heard.
“He almost hit a motorcyclist on the third lane when merging onto the A40”, said special PC Thiago Ribeiro.
“He was seen swerving on the road and almost hitting other vehicles, and upon getting side by side with the vehicle we could see he had moving images with ‘TikTok’ videos playing on his phone.”
Singh was pulled over for “erratic driving”, and police discovered he has a series of speeding offences on his record.
NO PLEA RECEIVED: AWAITING A COURT HEARING FOR A CHARGE OF DRIVING WITHOUT DUE CARE AND ATTENTION
It is a fast-track route to court when you attempt a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre on a police car, then undertake the same officers.
Qader Khan Ahmadzai, 20, from Lewisham, did just that on August 31 last year, drawing extra police attention to his Yamaha motorbike.
“The bike undertook the police vehicle and as it did so the officer could see that a mobile phone was clamped on the handlebars and a video was being played on the screen to the rider”, police told the court.
He also had no valid insurance for the motorbike.
FOUND GUILTY: £660 FINE, £264 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. SIX MONTH BAN
Kestutis Ivaska, 49, from Abbey Wood, southeast London, is another one caught out using social media while driving.
Police said his Vauxhall Tigra was “travelling at speed and erratic” on September 17 last year, going from 15mph to 60mph and “swerving over the central lines and failing to indicate when changing lanes or turning into junctions”, said PC Gregg Barrett.
“You had a phone on a magnetic mount to the left of the steering wheel which was playing YouTube videos.”
“Sorry”, said Ivaska, when he was pulled over. It did not spare him a date in court.
FOUND GUILTY: £440 FINE, £176 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. SIX PENALTY POINTS.
Police issued a warning recently about the “totally unacceptable” trend of drivers watching videos and TV shows while at the wheel[3]
WOOF JUSTICE
Estate agent Oliver Kent, 42, was caught breaking the road rules by a passing cyclist as he was stuck in traffic in Maida Vale last October.
“Driver is stopped in traffic using their mobile phone whilst a small dog is sitting on their lap”, reported Javier Silvarrey.
“If the airbag goes off in an accident, I fear the dog may be crushed.”
Mr Silvarrey, who submitted a report to the police together with video evidence, added: “Driver is stopped in traffic tapping away on their phone. They start to drive off whilst still holding/using the phone.”
GUILTY PLEA: £143 FINE, £57 VICTIM SURCHARGE. SIX MONTH BAN.
SLEEPING AT THE WHEEL
Hakim Elahi, 33, caused a bit of a panic when he was found slumped over the steering wheel of a hired Range Rover in Ilford, northeast London.
Police feared he needed an ambulance, but a “startled” Elahi woke up and closer inspection from officers revealed nitrous oxide canisters and balloons within the vehicle.
It was 5.25am on November 13 last year when police saw the Range Rover sat at traffic lights, not moving at all when the lights turned green.
An extract of the police file after Hakim Elahi was found asleep at the wheel of his car
/ MPS
“I saw the driver of the vehicle was slumped over the steering wheel. Upon getting to the window, I have tapped on the glass.
The driver of the vehicle has then woken up from being asleep and appeared startled”, said PC David Parr.
“The driver stated to me that he was driving home from his girlfriend’s address and fell asleep when the lights were red.”
The officer reported “drug paraphernalia in the vehicle”, including balloons and a “nos canister ice cold to the touch, suggesting it had recently been used”.
Elahi, from Hornsey, was convicted of driving without due care and attention, and driving without insurance.
FOUND GUILTY: £660 FINE, £264 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. EIGHT PENALTY POINTS
TANGO AND CRASH
Ibrahim Ahmed, 27, of Camden, took a call while he was riding his Honda motorbike through Kentish Town last September.
Police couldn’t fail to notice the dangers he was posing.
“The driver was looking at his phone for long enough time to not notice the police vehicle he was about to crash into then subsequently crashed in to”, said PC Thomas Ferguson.
“Fair enough”, came the reply from Ahmed.
FOUND GUILTY: £440 FINES, £176 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. SIX PENALTY POINTS
WRONG TIME, WRONG PLACE, WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD
Kiki Truman, 18, from Thames Ditton in Surrey, was at the wheel of a Hyundai in Surbiton when she was accused of driving without due care and attention.
“You contravened a keep left sign by driving round a passenger island, on the wrong side of the road”, said the police officer. “You continued on the wrong side of the road for approximately 200m until you were stopped.”
Truman wasn’t convinced she had don’t anything wrong when she was pulled over at 1.45am.
“I stopped the vehicle and spoke to the driver, explaining what I had seen”, said the officer. “When I asked the driver why she was driving on the wrong side of the road, she replied: ‘I’m not.’”
However she pleaded guilty when the case came to court.
GUILTY PLEA: £80 FINE, £32 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. FIVE PENALTY POINTS.
COSTLY JOURNEY
When police came across Ravinder Singh’s Mercedes van driving in the middle lane of the A12 at a suspiciously slow speed, they were surprised to learn the reason.
“The driver was driving so slowly that vehicles were approaching from behind at speed, expecting the vehicle to be doing 50mph, only to have to move into alternative lanes, to avoid driving into the back of the van”, said PC Wayne Roper, of the incident on December 14 last year.
Ravinder Singh was photographed at the roadside by the Metropolitan Police
/ MPS
“As I looked over at the driver, he was resting both his wrists on top of the steering wheel, and was counting money.
“I could see that he was counting notes, and on looking over at me, he put the money down, and took hold of the steering wheel.
“Had the vehicle hit a pot hole or had to have some big steering inputs made to avoid debris, the driver wouldn’t have been able to, and a loss of control was very likely. This was very irresponsible and very dangerous.”
GUILTY PLEA: AWAITING SENTENCE
PUDDLE TROUBLE
Driving through a puddle can get you into legal trouble, as well as upsetting those who might be in the way of the splash.
Patricia Walker, 41, from Dulwich, southeast London, found herself being prosecuted over an incident last November on Tower Bridge Road in Southwark.
Her Mercedes “takes the bend far too close to (a man) where he has to bang the car, then the Mercedes purposely pulls in front of (him) twice through a large puddle in terrible weather”, recorded the court file.
Walker did not enter a plea and was convicted in her absence.
FOUND GUILTY: £440 FINE, £176 VICTIM SURCHARGE, £100 COSTS. SIX PENALTY POINTS.