Saturday 5 April 2008

Great excuses of our time

A SPEEDING driver has avoided a ban after his lawyer argued that he needed his licence to visit both his wives.
Mohammed Anwar, 51, was caught driving at more than twice the speed limit on his way home from work in Falkirk.

The restaurant owner, who has two wives under Islamic law, was clocked driving at 64mph in a 30mph zone on the Cumbernauld Road, Muirhead, Glasgow, on 21 August, 2007.

Yesterday at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Anwar, of Clouston Street, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to speeding, but his lawyer, Paul Nicolson, said: "He realises his licence is at risk, but this is an unusual case and he is very anxious to keep his driving licence as he has two wives.

"Under his religion he is allowed a maximum of four," said Mr Nicolson.

"He has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow and sleeps with one one night and stays with the other the next.

"Without his driving licence he would be unable to be able to do this on a regular basis. He is also a restaurant owner and has a restaurant in Falkirk, which he has had for the past 30 years."

Sheriff John C Morris, QC, allowed Anwar to keep his licence, fining him £200 and imposing six penalty points on his driving licence.

While it is sort of illegal, bigamy brings other advantages in today's Britain. For example, should Mr Anwar's business ever fail, then, as was reported back in February, he will be able to claim additional benefits in respect of his additional wife. Not a bad deal, really.

Meanwhile, I wonder how far an infidel would get claiming that he needed the car in order to commute between his wife and his mistress? About as far as the bus queue, after his licence was withdrawn, I'd guess (and quite right too!).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yesterday at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Anwar, of Clouston Street, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to speeding, but his lawyer, Paul Nicolson, said: "He realises his licence is at risk, but this is an unusual case and he is very anxious to keep his driving licence as he has two wives."

Not so anxious that he avoided breaking the law. Meanwhile, here's some Muslim vibrancy south of the border:

Eleventh person quizzed following Customs sting

An eleventh person has been arrested following a series of raids on business and residential properties across Preston. It follows the arrests of nine people yesterday morning and a tenth person, a 60-year-old man, at about 5pm yesterday, as part of the same operation. Of the people arrested yesterday, three are still in custody and seven have been released on part four bail.

As part of the operation police have seized an enormous amount of documentation, a quantity of counterfeit goods, a number of computers and a quantity of money.

The premises raided are believed to belong to the millionaire Patel family whose wealth is estimated to be around £110million.

But police have been unable to confirm whether or not the family are involved or among those arrested.

The arrests mark a significant stage in a joint operation between Lancashire Constabulary and HMRC and are the culmination of a protracted and complex investigation into the importation of counterfeit goods and the inaccurate description or overvaluation of goods for export, which have resulted in false claims to VAT repayment.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/mostpopular.var.2168260.mostviewed.tenth_person_quizzed_following_customs_sting.php

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JuliaM said...

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/259516.php

I wonder who else but the Palestinians would get a pass from the Reuters news team for catching an slaughtering a rare turtle...?

But they gave it's blood to children suffering from ailments, so I guess that's ok!

Alex said...

Perhaps it's fortunate (for other road users) that Mr Anwar doesn't have a full harem of four wives. He would then have had an excuse to drive at more than four times the speed limit in order to "humour" his wives.