The sight of a tall man driving a Ford Ka with his head sticking out of the roof might have got a laugh out of bemused motorists on the Tyne Bridge, but 6ft 6in Adam Elliott’s stunt cost him his licence after a judge banned him for dangerous driving.
Described as a “Big Friendly Giant”, Elliot got behind the wheel of his small convertible for a laugh. But his attempt at humour did not impress the judge when he was handed a driving ban for distracting other drivers.
Elliot’s blond locks were seen drifting through the breeze about a foot above the windscreen of his tiny convertible.
The court heard the 26-year-old, who has 12 previous offences for driving while disqualified, looked like “the Big Friendly Giant at the wheel of Noddy’s car.”.
Northumbria police pulled over Elliott’s Ford Ka after watching him cross the Tyne Bridge into Newcastle with his head and neck above the level of the windscreen. The police said he was standing up at the wheel, but when the car salesman stepped out of the vehicle it became clear he might simply have been too tall for the car he was delivering to a customer.
Elliott, who is self-employed and runs I Buy Any Car North East, denied standing up, telling Newcastle crown court: “I couldn’t fit in the car, I was too tall.”
However, he admitted dangerous driving on the journey from Gateshead to Newcastle on the basis that he was showing off and that his behaviour – caught by CCTV cameras – was distracting other drivers.
Judge Robert Adams told him: “You have very sensibly pleaded guilty today. I have seen the photos and heard the circumstances in which you were stopped. It is pretty obvious you were showing off, demonstrating your height in an open-topped small vehicle. You were clearly distracting other drivers and that was a dangerous thing to do.”
He imposed an interim driving ban until Elliott comes back to be sentenced by the same court on 27 February.
After the hearing, Elliott said: “The police said that 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 about that.
“I’ve always denied standing up but I was persuaded to plead guilty just to get it over with. I’m an excellent, safe driver and my business is buying and selling cars – or at least I did. It looks as though I’ll have to rethink that or maybe hire a driver.”
In court, Elliott’s barrister, Nick Cartmell, said: “He was showing off in effect and behaving foolishly.”
At a previous hearing, Cartmell said: “He is adamant he was not standing. The allegation is he was standing while driving. He is a few inches off 7ft. He accepts he was high in the seat but he was not standing and was in control of the vehicle.
Elliott initially denied dangerous driving and the case was going to trial, which would have resulted in a Ford Ka being brought to court so the jury could have seen how Elliott looked sitting at the wheel.
Judge Amanda Rippon, who heard the case on Monday, said: “It would simply be a case of bringing a Ford Ka to court, parking it in the car park and then everyone could see how the defendant looks when he is sitting at the wheel.
“In the photographs I have seen of the incident in question his head and shoulders are above the silver roll bar behind his seat, that is some four to five inches down from the back of his neck.”
Rippon said she could see the defendant in the dock and did not consider him to be particularly tall. From the dock Elliott answered: “That’s because I am sitting down.”
Elliott went on to call the judge a “stupid cow”, which resulted in him being locked up over the lunch break until he apologised.
He said afterwards: “I used to be a daft lad when I was younger but I’ve worked hard to establish my business and paid to put myself through a driving course so that I could start up my business. I think the case shows it’s a bad idea for really tall people to drive really small cars.”