A student optometrist who escaped being jailed for a horrendous piece of dangerous driving has now also escaped having his budding career ended.
Usman Saleem, 20, was given a community order last October for what police said was ‘one of the worst’ driving displays they had seen.
Saleem had passed an unmarked police car on the wrong side of the road and hit speeds more than double the 30mph limit.
The student, of Thornton Lodge Road, Huddersfield, admitted what he had done immediately and pleaded guilty at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court last September.
Despite not being given a jail term, the conviction meant he could lose his career as it had to be referred to the General Optical Council. But after considering his case, the GOC’s fitness to practise committee has now decided not to strike him from the register.
Committee chairman Valerie Paterson said Saleem had accepted he made a ‘stupid mistake’.
He was of previous good character and had admitted his guilt as soon as he was arrested after the incident in Salendine Nook.
The committee imposed a warning.
Magistrates heard that Saleem was arrested after passing the unmarked police car on the wrong side of the road in the early hours. He accelerated to 60mph in a 30mph zone, before hitting a kerb and stopping.
He was given a community order with a curfew, a 12-month driving ban and court bills totalling £145.
