Swansea woman sentenced for giving driving test on behalf of 150 people

 Inderjit Kaur admitted to having impersonated 150 people for driving tests

Swansea resident Inderjit Kaur, who was arrested in May 2021 for taking payments to give driving tests on other people’s behalf, has been sentenced to eight months for fraud.

29-year-old Kaur admitted to the police in two separate interviews that she had impersonated 150 people and gave practical as well as theory tests in exchange for £700 to £800 for each person.

These offences were committed across the UK including Swansea, Carmarthen, Bridgend, north Wales, Birmingham, Nottingham and London, as well as the home counties of her clients which mostly comprised of women of Asian background who did not have a good command over English language or had failed their driving tests earlier.

The mother-of-one was sentenced at the Swansea Crown Court on July 7 after the police was able to prove 63 cases out of the 150 she mentioned.  

Regional organised crime team for South Wales, Tarian, conducted a thorough investigation but was only able to find 63 drivers related to the offences between 2019 and 2020. However, Kaur admitted that she had started taking tests for others back in 2017.

Kaur was first reported to the police after an examiner grew suspicious of her. According to Judge Huw Rees, Kaur most likely earned £120,000 from her crimes.

Prosecutor James Hartson told the court, “Driving tests are only to be taken in English, Welsh or sign language and an interpreter cannot accompany the person taking their test. The defendant admitted taking practical and theory tests on 150 occasions, but investigations only established 63 offences.”

“On September 14, 2020 a DVSA examiner at a test centre in Carmarthen reported to the police his concerns of a woman taking driving tests on behalf of others. The defendant took a practical driving test for a woman and provided the examiner with identification in the correct driver’s name – but the ID did not match the defendant’s appearance.”

While sentencing Kaur, Judge Rees said, “In my judgement this case has three strands. The first is the number of occasions you impersonated people between October 2019 and September 2020. Another is the extensive locations across Wales and England that you did this. And third is the many applicants you impersonated who had a poor grasp of English and had previously failed their driving tests.”

“The result is that your offending means there are a large number of unqualified drivers on roads in this country. This is an undoubtedly serious and disturbing case.”

Judge Rees told Kaur that he was being lenient for the sake of her young child. She was sentenced to eight months, four of which she will spend in prison. Additionally, she was told to pay a statutory charge.

Detective Chief Inspector Steven Maloney said, “The crimes Kaur committed circumvent the driving test process and in turn puts innocent road users at risk, by allowing unskilled and dangerous motorists to have seemingly legitimate licences. Safety on our roads has always been a priority and arresting those that flaunt the law ensures that we can keep unqualified drivers off the road.”

“By working with the DVSA, this complex criminal investigation highlighted the extent of Kaur’s offending which was purely out of greed. Kaur’s offending has now been halted, and she has now been brought to justice, and we today welcome the sentence imposed by the courts. Frauds such as these pose significant risks to the general public and I urge any members of the public with information on such crimes to report them to the police or even anonymously via crime stoppers,” he added. To report any such incident, call 101, or 999 in an emergency. You can also contact Crimestoppers to give an anonymous report 0800 555 111.