Don’t ban me from driving - I have to carry Rolex watches
A BUSINESSMAN caught using his mobile phone at the wheel of his Land Rover tried to dodge a road ban by telling a court it was ‘too dangerous’ for him to get the bus to meetings to collect second-hand items such as Rolex watches.
Asil Ashar, 48, faced disqualification under the totting-up procedure after being caught using his phone while driving twice in two months.
The father-of-three, who runs a second-hand goods store in Manchester city centre, claimed he would be a target for robbers if he had to get public transport to collect expensive items.
He said none of his five staff can drive and he could not afford a chauffeur. Last year, his company, Entertainment Trader Limited, recorded a net profit of £100,000. So far this year, its turnover is £840,000.
At Manchester magistrates court, Ashar, from Hale, argued he would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ if he was stopped from driving. But his plea fell on deaf ears as JPs banned him from driving for six months.
The court earlier heard Ashar had been given three points for speeding in November 2017 – and a further six points for driving while using a handheld mobile device in December.
Police stopped him again on April 20 this year after an officer spotted him on his phone while driving through Sale in his Land Rover Defender.
Ashar said he needed his licence in order to keep his business afloat.
He said: “We have a dedicated website just to the watches. I employ someone to keep the website high on Google, it’s the first one to come up on Google.
“We work nationwide. Next week, I’ve got to collect two watches in Swansea, one of them is £5,000, the other is £8,000. We keep these watches safe in a safety deposit warehouse.
“We’ve got a shop so when somebody wants to buy one, they can come and collect. I employ five people, but it’s too dangerous for me to ask them to go out and collect the watches.
“If they removed my driving licence I wouldn’t be able to collect these watches, I would lose business and I would lose my employees.
“It can be dangerous, we deal with a lot of watches. I couldn’t afford to hire a driver, for example, as I’m going to Swansea for two days to pick up those watches, I couldn’t afford to pay for a driver whilst I was there as I would expect them to stay overnight.
“So there are financial and safety reasons for why I should be driving. The net profit of £100,000 is not consistent every year. I have one person in charge of the Google stuff. I have one photographer who takes a lot of good pictures of the watches and I have two people who work in sales. I have not found myself in the position of danger whilst collecting or delivering. You have to be very careful about picking up and delivering watches.”
Ashar’s lawyer, Jeremy Spencer said: “There is a considerable risk of robbery. He drives to a secure warehouse, which is a part of the business. He collects the watches and transfers them to the warehouses. Last week, he went to Castleford to pick up a Rolex watch to the sum of £2,000. He went at approximately 9.30pm. Mr Ashar is married and has three dependant children. He takes out £1,800 per month. If he were to be disqualified from driving, his employees would be at risk. The business could not function without his driving licence.”
But chair of magistrates Ian ScottDunn told Ashar: “We realise not having your licence would be inconvenient both to your business and employees and you. But, we believe you can arrange other ways of collecting and delivering the watches which you buy and sell. We do not consider this would be exceptional hardship and we reject your application.”
Ashar was also fined £300 and ordered to pay £120 in costs and surcharges.