A man has been jailed for pretending to be his taxi driver cousin when he was stopped by the police for driving without insurance.

Yasir Ali was today locked up for four months by Judge Jonathan Rose who said he had no respect for the rules of the road.

Ali, 35, of Brindle Close, Allerton, Bradford, was pulled over by the police at the wheel of his wife’s Honda on December 23, 2019.

Bradford Crown Court was told that officers on patrol in the city’s Menstone Street realised that the car was insured for one female driver only.

Ali then gave the details of his cousin because he had never passed a driving test and wanted to escape prosecution.

He had a previous conviction for driving while disqualified dating from 2013, the court was told.

Ali pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and driving without insurance.

His solicitor advocate, Upkar Bahia, said Ali fully accepted his culpability.

His attempt to deceive the police was always going to be doomed to failure because his cousin could prove he wasn’t driving the Honda.

Judge Rose said that offences of perverting the course of justice struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

Ali did not have a driving licence and had no reason to be using his wife’s car that day.

If his cousin thought he was being prosecuted for a driving offence, he would have been very worried because he needed his licence for work.

Ali lied to the police, telling them he was visiting his wife and child in hospital.

“That was a blatant lie,” Judge Rose said.

He went on to lie to his probation officer, changing his story and saying he was taking a child to hospital.

“You tell lies for your own purposes,” the judge told him. “You have no regard for the laws of driving.”

Ali was banned from driving for 14 months.