Police catch a Leicester driver with 11 people in his car
A Leicester driver was banned from the roads for a year after being caught driving with 11 people in his car – including four in the boot.
Leicester magistrates banned Zoltan Lakatos and gave him 14 days to pay £1,325 in fines and costs after hearing of his overloaded Audi A4 saloon.
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An Audi A4 saloon - not meant for 10 passengers
Six of the passengers were children – including the four in the boot.
When Lakatos, 38, of Martin Street, Belgrave, was interviewed by police, he was told of the importance of securing young children in the car.
Lakatos, through a Hungarian interpreter, replied: "It doesn't matter, they are only children."
Prosecutor Ian Johnson told the court how Lakatos was stopped at 10.30am in St Nicholas Circle in Leicester city centre on June 18 last year with four people in the boot and another five in the back seat.
Lakatos was in the driver's seat and there was a 49-year-old woman alongside him in the front passenger seat.
He said the four people in the boot – who were lying on top of each other – were an 11-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl.
Mr Johnson said the five people in the back seat were a 65-year-old man, a 49-year-old woman, a 24-year-old woman, a three-year-old and a nine-month-old infant.
Lakatos, who did not attend court, was found guilty in his absence of using a motor vehicle to carry passengers in such a way as to create a danger of injury to them.
Mr Johnson said: "There were 11 people in that vehicle – and to add insult to injury it was not covered by any form of insurance."
Lakatos was also found guilty in his absence of not having any insurance.
Chairman of the bench Simon Edwards said using a motor vehicle and causing danger to passengers would normally be a lower level fine, but because of the aggravating circumstances due to the fact that there was no insurance and due to the number of persons carried, they were going to give a higher level fine.
He was able to fine Lakatos the higher amount of £700 with £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Mr Edwards said: "Because the offence is so serious we are going to impose a 12-month discretionary driving ban that is effective from today."
He also fined Lakatos £525 for driving without insurance.
22 Comments
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by LikeItaLot
Friday, January 27 2012, 9:43PM
“by weggersman
How does calling someone a SOAB add to your comments?”
by redcat
Friday, January 27 2012, 6:01PM
“In China, where life is very cheap, they would wonder why his car was only half full...”
by bimple
Friday, January 27 2012, 5:18PM
“"Mr Lakatos only only asked for Hungarian-English interpreter, because Romany-English interpreters are hard to find."
Hi Tompika, you obviously know Mr Lakatos (or someone heavily involved in the case) as you have detailed knowledge of the kind of interpreter he asked for. Why is it a problem what kind of interpreter he asked for? He could have been awkaward and demanded an interpreter who spoke Romani but he didn't, he accepted a Hungarian one. You seem to be defending him from the words you use, but your tone suggests otherwise. What are you trying to get at?”
by bimple
Friday, January 27 2012, 4:28PM
“"Is this guy on benefits?
Any foreigner found guilty of any crime in this Country should be deported back to their original Country, end of!"
Erm, what a strange question to ask (is this guy on benefits)! Do you not realise comments like that immediately tell people exactly what kind of person you really are? Why don't you ask "is this guy left handed", or "has this guy ever sat on a wall whilst eating an apple" or some other equally pointless and unrelated question?
And, just to be clear, you are more than happy for any UK national living ANYWHERE in the world (including Australia, USA, etc) who may work there, have family there, etc, to be immediately deported for doing 40mph in a 30mph zone, for example. It just seems, well, a rather wierd approach...........”
by ghostof66
Friday, January 27 2012, 4:15PM
“Is this guy on benefits?
Any foreigner found guilty of any crime in this Country should be deported back to their original Country, end of!”
by Markymark002
Friday, January 27 2012, 1:48PM
“When I saw the headline I thought it was Notts Forest trying to save money.”
by BSound
Friday, January 27 2012, 1:44PM
“I agree with Patrick4939, and I would like to point out that Lakatos' need for a Hungarian interpreter doesn't prove his Hungarian citizenship. Although it's likely but please don't identify the Hungarian people with Lakatos and his behaviour.”
by gailkay
Friday, January 27 2012, 1:15PM
“What about the car was it taken from him and auctioned off, or crushed , obvoiusly not, so he will in no doubt be back on the road just waiting for next time, what a complete joke the law is !!!”
by stripeertw
Friday, January 27 2012, 2:03AM
“did anyone else notice that the fine for driving without insurance is completely dwarfed by the actual cost of insurance?
£525 fine - I'd be happy if I could find a policy for not much less and I've got 7 years no claims bonus.
no wonder people choose to drive without insurance!”
by bimple
Thursday, January 26 2012, 9:30PM
“""Unemployment may be high but there seems to be no shortage of work for interpreters. Anyone checked out the jobcentre lately for jobs under 16hrs per week? Interpreters required at £30 ph for pretty much every language going. What a shambles"
Erm, in what way is that a shambles? Seems pretty impressive to me? I'm not sure what you are getting at?”