AN UNINSURED driver convicted of giving a false name after being stopped by police in Skipton has been ordered to pay £1,380 in fines and costs.

Qasim Saleem, 22, was dealt with in his absence by Skipton Magistrates after he failed to turn up.

Saleem had informed the court, through his solicitors, that he would not be attending following the death of a close relative, but magistrates went ahead with the case after hearing it was the fourth time that he had failed to attend.

Hilary Reece, prosecuting, said Saleem, who denied driving without insurance and obstructing a police officer, had been followed after he pulled out of Ermysted's Grammar School at just before midnight on June 5 last year.

Traffic officer Timothy Healey told the court he had followed the Volkswagen Golf to Rockwood Drive where it had pulled over after avoiding a cat in the road.

The court heard that when questioned Saleem had claimed to be someone else. PC Healey had been suspicious, had asked for proof, but he had been unable to get it - despite saying he would arrange for friends to come out with paperwork.

When PC Healey eventually told Saleem he would be arrested, he produced his driver's licence from his back pocket, with his name on it.

The case was proved and Saleem, of Walden Drive, Bradford, was fined £600 for driving without insurance and £100 for obstructing a police officer.

His licence was endorsed with eight penalty points and he was ordered to pay costs of £620 and a victims surcharge of £60.