A driver has been jailed after he repeatedly used a former employee’s details to try and escape punishment for traffic offences.

Takeaway boss Toheed Javed, of Thornton Lodge, knew the man had gone back to Pakistan and used his ID as the driver in speeding offences.

But his dishonesty was finally uncovered when an officer became suspicious that it was Javed who was behind the wheel of his VW Polo when it was involved in a collision in Huddersfield last summer.

Duncan Ritchie, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court that the Polo ran into the back of another car on July 8, 2015.

Leeds Combined Courts

The VW was registered to Javed at his takeaway business in Barnsley and he said it was used for deliveries and would have been driven by one of his staff. A witness gave the officer a description of the driver involved and it appeared to match Javed.

He was given a notice to fill in identifying the driver and was warned to tell the truth. He made a phone call to get someone to get some details from a drawer in his bedroom and said the driver was Shabaz Aslam.

A man called Shabaz Aslam had previously worked for him but had returned to Pakistan in 2013.

Mr Ritchie said Javed was arrested and it was discovered that the Aslam name had been put forward on four previous occasions as the driver in speeding allegations, the first having ended in a conviction in court.

Documents in that name were found in a drawer in Javed’s bedroom as was a piece of paper with practised signatures for Shabaz Aslam.

The investigation revealed on December 31, 2014 the VW Polo had first been caught on a speed camera and a notice of intended prosecution was sent to Javed as the registered keeper. He responded by naming Mr Aslam with his address as the takeaway in Barnsley.

A court hearing was requested but no one appeared and Mr Aslam was convicted in his absence and given a fine and three penalty points.

A driving licence photocard
A driving licence photocard

On March 14, 2015 a different car was caught in another speeding offence in Huddersfield. Paperwork relating to that was found in Javed’s bedroom “suggesting he had again provided false details as to the driver,” said Mr Ritchie.

On April 29 last year the VW Polo was again found to be speeding and photographic evidence showed Javed was the driver not the man he named.

Finally on May 10 the same car was again caught speeding and Aslam was the name given of the driver.

Andrew Dallas, representing Javed, said he had acted under intense pressure in his working life. He had to commute daily from Huddersfield to the family takeaway in Barnsley which provided financial support for his extended family.

“He feared getting points on his licence because he realised how his commute would be in jeopardy if points did accumulate.”

Javed, 24, of Springdale Avenue, Thornton Lodge, admitted five charges of doing acts to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for a total of 14 months and disqualified from driving for 31 months.

Judge Robin Mairs said: “The message must go out that those who drive and, even on a single occasion decide to provide false details, will find themselves in a prison cell.”