Police told "Santa" driving speeding car

A man told police "Santa" was driving his car when it was snapped by a speed camera travelling at 79 mph. Paul Ellard, 24, from Connah's Quay, wrote on a formal notice it was not a VW car, but a sleigh "pulled by Rudolph and the rest of the gang at 379 mph." A court heard the car was travelling in a 30mph zone at Pentre, Deeside.

Ellard denied failing to provide the information but did not attend a trial at Flintshire magistrates' court where the case was proved in his absence. Magistrates heard he had crossed out his name on the form and replaced it with Santa Claus and crossed out the make of car and replaced it with a sleigh. In a section asking for the driver's contact details Ellard wrote the driver lived at "Santa's Grotto in the North Pole" where he said "the town is freezing and full of elves."



Prosecutor John Wylde told the court: "That does not provide sufficient information to enable the prosecution to identify the driver." Magistrates adjourned sentencing to a future date for him to attend because he already had six penalty points on his driving licence. He faces a driving ban. Magistrates joked whether anyone had checked with the North Pole. Legal adviser Tracey Etienne said: "We have been assured that in September that Santa was busy wrapping presents and had then gone on holiday with Mrs Santa Claus!"

The court heard how the car had within a few months had a number of different registered keepers. Originally from south Wales, it was now registered to a man in Glasgow, but the court heard that Ellard was said to be in possession of it at the time. It was stressed that he was not being prosecuted for speeding but for failing to provide sufficient information about the driver at the time of the speeding offence.