Cafe boss fined for driving while banned

The boss of a Perth milkshake bar was fined £1000 and banned for four months at the sheriff court after being caught driving his wife’s car while disqualified.

Thirty-year-old Israr Ulhaq, who runs the Holy Shake dessert parlour in Main Street, Bridgend, was put off the road for 12 months in June 2019 after he was caught rushing ice cream deliveries to customers before they melted.

He had nine penalty points on his licence at that time and had a further six imposed, leading to a ban under the totting-up procedure, for driving without insurance.

He failed to convince the Perth Justice of the Peace Court it would cause him exceptional hardship.

The latest incident took place on Perth’s Glasgow Road on March 26, 2020, when the accused was spotted by police on mobile patrol.

A lawyer for Ulhaq explained he had been called to the business and had taken his wife’s car.

He employs four people and was the only person employed in a managerial capacity.

Among other things, he was responsible for stock and any ban, which was discretionary, would have a detrimental effect on the business.

Noting that the accused’s previous driving convictions did not “do him any favours,” Sheriff Pino Di Emidio told Ulhaq: “You are someone who has a record which shows persistent - perhaps not a more serious level of offending but persistent offending of a road traffic nature.

“This is a crime the court takes seriously.

“In the circumstances, I don’t think I can refrain from disqualification.”

He was allowed two months to pay the fine.