Serial driving test fraudster bandaged head to try and scam theory exams
A serial driving exam fraudster bandaged his head to try and scam theory tests.
Izmir Senaj, 28, used the disguise at several Driver and Vehicle Agency [DVSA] test centres across England to impersonate people he'd agreed to sit the tests for – but his luck ran out after staff recognised him from wanted posters.
It turned out it wasn't the first time the mummified grifter had tried to abuse the system after Swindon Crown Court heard he already had five convictions for 28 offences.
Senaj, of East Ham, London, was jailed for two years and four months after he pleading guilty to four counts of fraud.
Judge Jason Taylor QC said: "Your actions show a callous disregard for the system which is designed to ensure that only those qualified to drive safely get behind the wheel of a car.
"This could have had significant consequences both for road users and pedestrians and therefore my public duty requires me to reflect that."
He was eventually caught by a staff member at a theory test centre in Swindon, who recognised him from a wanted appeal and called the police.
Senaj had been jailed twice before for driving test fraud and committed the latest offences while on licence.
The court heard in late 2018 and early 2019, Senaj went to four test centres in southern England to take the driving theory test on others' behalf.
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On October 11, 2018, he arrived early to an appointment at the Eastbourne test centre. Dressed in a high visibility vest and wearing a bandage around his head and plaster over his nose, he handed over a provisional driving licence in the name of an Albanian man.
He explained to the receptionist he had been working on a building site earlier that day when he was struck by scaffolding and was sent home early by first aiders.
He was allowed to take the test, which he passed. Five days later, on October 16, he used a similar cover story at the Hastings test centre – this time claiming to have fallen off a ladder.
After the same staff member who’d dealt with him days earlier in Eastbourne recognised Senaj, he claimed he needed to use the toilet then left the centre.
On November 28, 2018, he was turned away from the Harlow test centre with staff unconvinced he was the Serbian national whose provisional driving licence he presented at the front desk.
Two months later, on January 24, 2019, the staff member at the Swindon theory test centre in Milton Road recognised him.
Senaj's brief Tanveer Qureshi claimed he was a "one man band" and owed gambling debts to two people he impersonated, including one he described as a "violent gangster".
Judge Taylor said Senaj had been sentenced to 11 months jail at Snaresbrook Crown Court in 2014 for seven offences of driving test fraud and received a three-year sentence for another seven offences in 2017.
He told the defendant he was satisfied there was a group or gang element to the crimes and it was organised.
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