Man with ‘terrible record’ told police he was driving himself to hospital 10 days after being banned

A Spalding man who is disqualified from driving and with a ‘terrible driving record’ told police who stopped him that he was driving himself to hospital because he had chest pains, a court has been told.

Timothy Edward Hart, 45, of Alexandra Road admitted driving while disqualified, without insurance and
while not wearing a seat belt, when he appeared before magistrates in Boston.

Prosecuting, Yaysa Hue said police saw him driving his Citroen car at 11.35am on May 30 in Stonegate and when he saw them, he made to put on his seatbelt.

She said they stopped him to advise him about wearing a seatbelt, but then discovered he had been disqualified from driving just 10 days before until September 2022.

Ms Hue said Hart told the officers that he had been driving himself to hospital as he had chest pains but declined the officers offer to take him or call an ambulance.

When asked why he didn’t call an ambulance, she said he claimed ‘he just wanted to get there’.

Mitigating, Phillipa Chatterton said Hart had been diagnosed with heart disease two years ago and had rung the ambulance but had been told he was ‘not a priority and would have to wait at least an hour’.

She said he was later treated at hospital for a lung infection which would have caused the chest pains.

The magistrates told him he had a ‘terrible record’ and that he could ‘not go on behaving like this’.

He was fined a total of £280 and ordered to pay £119 in court costs and charges and was banned from
driving for 18 months.