Banned motorist hired 650k Audi for test weekend

A TAYSIDE driver jailed for the death of a Perth cabbie has been sent back t o prison after a court heard how a DVLA blunder left him able to take to the road in a £50,000 test drive Audi.

However, Halim Cholmeley, 43, will be free within weeks after a sixmonth prison term was backdated to take in the five weeks spent on remand by the recruitment consultant after the law caught up with him for a string of driving-related offences.

They i ncluded a third drink-related conviction in a little over a decade for Cholmeley, from Broomhill, Glen Prosen, in rural Angus.

He was sentenced to six years in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2010 for the crash which led to the death of Perth taxi driver Gavin McCabe, 41, on Dundee’s Kingsway in March 2009. Cholmeley, who was speeding, was banned and over the limit at the time.

He returned to the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court having admitted driving while disqualified in Angus on March 5 last year and failing to provide a specimen of breath.

He pleaded guilty to further charges of driving while disqualified in Montrose and elsewhere on November 5 2016, without insurance and while on bail.

Cholmeley also admitted obtaining a licence on June 7 last year while banned from doing so and two further charges of driving while disqualified, without insurance and while on bail on November 7 last year and October 27 this year.

Last March, Cholmeley was spotted by police who knew he was banned. At his home, he was acting suspiciously and smelling of alcohol and police found he had tried to hide car keys.

The November offences involved a high performance Audi SQ5 SUV which Cholmeley arranged t o have for an extended test drive. Although he was able to provide a licence which appeared genuine, inquiries revealed he’d obtained it in June as a result of a DVLA administration error.

Defence solicitor William Boyle said his client had been under the mistaken impression he could automatically apply f or his licence after five years.

Cholmeley will return to cour t next month for consideration of a further disposal involving an electronic tag.