6ft 7in driver banned for looking like Big Friendly Giant in a tiny Noddy car
A TALL man who drove a small convertible with his head and shoulders poking above the roofline has been banned from the road after being told he looked like “the Big Friendly Giant in Noddy’s car”.
Adam Elliott, who is 6ft 7ins, caused a “dangerous distraction” to other motorists due to the unusual sight of him driving his tiny Ford Ka.
The car salesman, 26, had to squeeze behind the wheel of the open-topped vehicle before hitting the road.
When stunned police spotted him on Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge they thought he was driving while standing behind the wheel.
Elliott initially denied dangerous driving but yesterday changed his plea to guilty, admitting he had been “showing off” and that his behaviour was a distraction to other drivers, who sounded their horns and cheered him.
He initially claimed his height combined with a “malfunction” in the driver’s seat mechanism had resulted in him protruding above the windscreen.
But he denied standing up, telling Newcastle Crown Court: “I couldn’t fit in the car. I was too tall.”
Judge Robert Adams said: “It is pretty obvious you were showing off, demonstrating your height in an open-topped small vehicle.
Daft
“You were clearly distracting other drivers and that was a dangerous thing to do.”
He imposed an interim driving ban which stays in place at least until Elliott returns to be sentenced on February 27.
Elliott, from Newcastle, has 12 previous offences for driving while disqualified and now faces a lengthy ban.
He said: “The police said that I was standing up at the wheel but that’s just not the case.
“I was just too tall for the car I was driving.
“I did have my head high up out of the car but when you’re a bloke of my height there’s not much you can do about that.
“I’ve always denied standing up but I was persuaded to plead guilty just to get it over with.
“I’m an excellent, safe driver and my business is buying and selling cars – it looks as though I’ll have to rethink that or maybe hire a driver.”
In court, Elliott’s defence barrister Nick Cartmell said: “He was showing off in effect and behaving foolishly.”
At a previous hearing, Mr Cartmell said: “He accepts he was high in the seat but he was not standing and was in control of the vehicle. “It’s a very small car. “It would have been like the Big Friendly Giant in Noddy’s car.” Elliott added last night: “I used to be a daft lad when I was younger.
“But I have worked hard to establish my business and paid to put myself through a course so that I could start up the business.
“I think the case shows it’s a bad idea for really tall people to drive really small cars.”