The Magistrate’s Court heard that Arthur Jorge de Sousa (49), of Clarence Road, had, for the past 12 years, been driving in the Island on a Portuguese licence that he had obtained in 2005 when doing some work in the country.
And a message was issued by the court that people who live permanently in Jersey cannot drive in the Island on a Portuguese licence.
De Sousa was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for six months after he admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance.
De Sousa’s latest offence was committed on 10 February in St Saviour when he was stopped by police at 7.50 am while driving a blue Ford Galaxy. When checks were made it was revealed that he had no insurance and it emerged that he was disqualified from driving.
Advocate Niall Macdonald, defending, said that de Sousa foolishly believed he was entitled to drive on a valid Portuguese driving licence or a provisional Jersey driving licence.
‘He had appeared in court on four previous occasions and it had never been put to him that he was disqualified from driving,’ said the lawyer.
Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said: ‘For someone who has been in the motor trade for seven years he showed a remarkable lack of knowledge of basic law.’
Advocate Macdonald also submitted that his client thought that he had third-party insurance cover as he had a job doing vehicle maintenance work for a company on a zero-hours contract.
However, Mr Harris said: ‘Clearly the defendant knew he did not have insurance for the vehicle he was driving.’
He added: ‘Since the disqualification in 2006, this is the fourth no insurance matter to come before the court. You have a number of previous convictions for using vehicles without insurance which is an aggravating factor.’
