Bloke crams 13 into Volvo S70

Magistrates take dim view of 'gross overloading'

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 24th June 2008 13:29 GMT

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A north London teacher has been banned from driving for 12 months, fined almost £1,000 and ordered to take an extended driving test after breaking the "most people in a Volvo S70" world record by cramming 12 passengers into the red saloon before squeezing behind the wheel.

Abraham Gniwosch, of Tottenham, was pulled on 8 August last year in Llandudno, Conwy, the BBC reports. Traffic officer PC Roger Brazel told Llandudno magistrates he'd stopped the vehicle for "serious dramatic overloading".

The court heard that "an adult male and a boy were sitting in the passenger seat", the back contained "two women with infants on their laps", while the remaining six passengers, all young children "were either sitting or standing in the centre section of the back seat".

In his defence, Gniwosch said he'd been "driving sensibly at no more than 20 mph", and added: "I'm not a quick driver, I'm a slow driver. I've been silly in what I've done, but not dangerous."

Chairman of the bench, Sandra Walker, said the court had taken Gniwosch's good character into consideration, but pronounced: "This is a very unusual case of gross overloading where a financial penalty was appropriate."

Given the breathtaking grossness of the overloading, police asked for the Volvo to be confiscated, but magistrates declined. ®

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