PR boss's uninsured crash
THE boss of a Harrogate public relations and marketing company told the town's magistrates on Monday he had been ''astonished and dismayed'' to find he was not insured when he crashed his wife's car on black ice while on a trip to see his doctor.
Peter George Davenport, founder and managing director of Acceleris Marketing Communications, drove wife Jennifer's Mini Cooper into the back of a car in Cornwall Road, Harrogate, on January 13.
When 61-year-old former Times journalist Davenport, of Florin Walk, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to driving without insurance the court heard he already had six penalty points on his licence from two speeding tickets and the minimum of six for his latest offence generally meant a six-month driving ban.
But Davenport successfully pleaded exceptional hardship, telling the court he had not known his fully comprehensive policy did not cover him to drive his wife's car. He had believed he could drive it with third party cover but was guilty of the offence ''by ignorance''.
Speedings
Davenport said he had been driving for more than 40 years and was a careful and considerate motorist.
He had never previously been before a court or been involved in an accident.
His only offences were two relatively minor speedings, ''40 in a 30, that kind of thing.''
The accident he had been involved in had been while black ice was about in the winter and had occurred at 10mph.
Ban
''I was astonished and dismayed to find I was not covered,'' he said and added he would not have dreamed of driving had he thought he did not have insurance.
Growth of the national PR company he had founded in Harrogate, and which had a workforce of 20 with revenue of 5m, would be hit if he was off the road and unable to bring in new clients.
The court accepted Davenport's exceptional hardship argument and imposed six penalty points without a ban, telling him he would be unable to use the same argument again.
A fine of 350 was ordered along with costs of 45 and a 15 victim surcharge.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Harrogate
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
