I wasn’t driving while standing ... I’m just a bit tall for a Ford Ka!
A MAN accused of standing up while driving claimed yesterday that he was just too tall for his tiny car.
Adam Elliott, who is 6ft 6ins, was banned from the roads yesterday after a court heard he distracted other motorists by driving a convertible Ford Ka with his head poking above the windscreen.
The 26-year-old looked like ‘the Big Friendly Giant at the wheel of Noddy’s car’, a court was told.
Police pulled the car salesman over after watching in disbelief as he crossed the Tyne Bridge into Newcastle, with officers claiming he was standing up at the wheel.
But as Elliott stepped out of the vehicle, it became clear he might simply have been too tall for the car, which he was delivering to a customer.
Elliott, who has 12 previous driving convictions, denied standing up but pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, telling Newcastle Crown Court: ‘I couldn’t fit in the car – I was too tall.’
He admitted he was showing off and that his behaviour – caught by CCTV cameras – was distracting to other drivers.
After the hearing, Elliott said: ‘The police said 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. I’ve always denied standing up but I was persuaded to plead guilty just to get it over with.’
Judge Robert Adams imposed an interim driving ban, which stays in place until Elliott is sentenced on February 27.