MOTORISTS have been finding out at York and North Yorkshire courts that trying to avoid responsibility just doesn’t work.

Not telling the police who was driving your car when they ask you is a crime in its own right for which you can lose your licence or get penalty points.

That's what happened to Carl Henry Bradley, 50, of Howe Road, Norton.

He didn’t attend his trial for refusing a police order to name the person driving his car when they allegedly committed a traffic offence. He was convicted – and banned – in his absence at Harrogate Magistrates Court.

He is now forbidden to drive for six months.

His failure to tell police who was driving his car will also cost him £1,346 in a £660 fine, £620 prosecution costs and a £66 statutory surcharge.

The magistrates said it was not the first time he had broken motoring laws.

Thomas John Langdale, 26, drove off without leaving his details when he crashed into a wall in the street next to his home street on Boxing Day, 2019. Nor did he tell the police he was responsible for the damage.

But he was caught and is now serving a six month driving ban.

Langdale, 26, of Park Avenue, Sherburn-in-Elmet, pleaded guilty to careless driving, failure to stop after an accident that caused damage in Garden Lane, Sherburn-in-Elmet, failure to report the accident and driving without insurance.

He was fined £400 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £40 statutory surcharge at York Magistrates Court.

Deniz Altin, 19, of Friars Walk, York, keeps defying the motoring laws.

He was caught driving a BMW whilst disqualified on Hull Road on April 11, during the Spring lockdown, and was still disqualified when he was driving a Mercedes on Gowthorpe, Selby, on June 1.

He admitted two offences of driving whilst disqualified, plus driving without insurance and obstructing a police officer in April.

He was given another driving ban, this one until November 2021 at York Magistrates Court.

He must also complete a community order with 20 days’ rehabilitative activities and 150 hours’ unpaid work.