Driver with a ban was at the wheel

Community payback order

A disqualified driver who drove a car in a Stirling street without insurance was last week given supervision and unpaid work.

Former soldier Gordon Godley had been at the wheel of the Vauxhall in Wellgreen Lane behind the NCP car park on October 4 this year.

The 41-year-old had admitted the driving while disqualified and without insurance charges at Stirling Sheriff Court a few days later.

When Godley appeared for sentence last Wednesday, fiscal depute Rebecca Scott told Sheriff Robert Dickson that police officers acting on intelligence stopped the vehicle at 9.10pm.

Godley was found to be the driver – and a check of DVLA records showed that he had been disqualified from driving until May 2020.

The vehicle was insured, but the policy was not valid due to the disqualification, Ms Scott added.

Godley’s agent Ken Dalling explained that the female keeper of the car was a friend of the accused. The car was used for his benefit while he was disqualified. However, on this occasion his female friend had been drinking.

The solicitor pointed out that Godley’s record included road traffic offences. Sheriff Robert Dickson noted that Godley had received a four-year jail term in 2003 for causing death by dangerous driving.

Mr Dalling said that Godley had been in the Army until 2005, including the Argylls and the Marines, in Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere. He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress

Disorder, although that did not have a bearing on the offences before the court.

Godley was currently unemployed and finding work was not easy.

Mr Dalling also said Godley regretted the offences, adding: “Having been told not to drive, he should not have driven, but that was not uppermost when this occurred.”

Sheriff Dickson told the court: “It is clear from the report this man needs help and assistance.

“He has a number of problems which are not of his own making.”

He sentenced Godley, of Wallace Crescent, Denny, to a community payback order comprising two years’ supervision and 100 hours’ unpaid work to be completed within three months.

He was also disqualified from driving for nine months.