71-year-old 'did not have a driving licence for 50 years' (From Sutton Guardian)

Banstead man apprehended on scrap metal raid without a driving licence

9:47am Thursday 3rd May 2012 in Your Say By James Pepper

A 71-year-old motorist has been driving on the roads without a licence for more than half a century.

George Walker, from Banstead, confessed to officers he had not had a licence for 50 years after being stopped during a police operation.

Checks could find no record of George Walker's driving licence when he was stopped in January this year, but the pensioner insisted he must have had one because he had been driving for 50 years.

As no licence could be found, police had to create a fresh licence for Walker just so they could issue him with six penalty points.

Walker's Ford Transit tipper truck had caught the eye of a policeman who was patrolling Therapia Lane in Beddington looking for scrap metal thieves.

The truck was crammed with £2,000-worth of scrap metal, which Walker told police he was about to sell.

Walker, of Carshalton Road, Banstead, was arrested on suspicion of not having a driving licence and taken to Sutton Police Station, where he was charged with driving 'not in accordance with a driving licence' and driving without insurance.

After being charged, the 71-year-old went on the run and failed to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on February 1.

However officers from Carshalton South and Clockhouse Safer Neighbourhoods Team spotted Walker and he was arrested on March 26 for failing to appear in court.

Walker eventually appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court later that day and pleaded guilty to the charges.

He received six penalty points on his made up licence and was disqualified from driving until he had passed his test.

The pensioner was also fined £115 and ordered to pay Crown Prosecution Service costs of £40.

Walker never collected his tipper truck after it was taken to the police pound where it was crushed along with its load of scrap a week later.

Walker was originally arrested and his vehicle seized on the 23rd January 2012 during Operation Ferrous - a multi-agency, anti-metal theft initiative.

PC Gladwell, of Sutton Safer Parks Team, who made the original arrest, said: "It seems incredible to think that he has been driving around for 50 years without a licence."