Disqualified driver jailed after being caught behind the wheel

A motorist who was disqualified from driving until next summer has been jailed for 20-weeks after being caught behind the wheel in Northampton.

Petrut Ionut Craciun, 27, of Wheatfield Terrace in Northampton, was stopped by officers from Northamptonshire Police’s Roads Policing Team driving a Volkswagen Golf in Bridge Street at 3.15am last Thursday (February 9).

When officers asked Craciun for his name, he provided false details before running from them however, following a brief foot chase through Northampton town centre, he was arrested in St Peter’s Way.

Once in custody, checks on the Police National Computer established Craciun’s real identity, along with the fact that he was disqualified from driving until August 2024, after breaching a previous disqualification on July 5 last year.

Craciun was subsequently charged with driving whilst disqualified and using a motor vehicle on a road/public place without third party insurance. He was remanded in police custody and held for magistrates’ court that day (February 9).

At Northampton Magistrates Court, Craciun pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20-weeks in prison, further disqualified from driving for 36-months and ordered to pay £85 court costs and £154 victim surcharge.

Arresting officer, PC Ben Crossland of the Roads Policing Team, said: “Reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads remains our priority and removing uninsured and unlicensed drivers from our roads helps to do just that.

“Some people will see this type of driving offence as a victimless crime. However, we witness far too often, the devastation a road collision has on those involved, their families and the wider communities but when this also involves an uninsured and unlicensed driver, there is also the financial costs associated with it.”

Tragically in 2021, after being involved in a road collision, 29 people never returned home safely to their loved ones, and 280 required urgent medical assistance for serious and life-changing injuries.