by Holly Tribe
A motorist has been charged for putting the lives of ten passengers at risk when he transported them 100 miles across the country in an overloaded caravan.
Sameer Mirzar had been driving the 3m x 1.8m caravan from Stoke to a picnic site in Llanberis, North Wales before he his cargo was revealed.
The 45 year old was stopped by traffic police after concerned motorists saw the curtains inside the caravan being pulled aside to reveal seven children and three women on board, and raised the alarm. The passengers in the caravan included seven children and three women, none of whom were wearing seat belts.
According to the Daily Mail, the caravan was said to have been dangerously overloaded and the tyres appeared squashed.
In his defence Mirzar, who is employed as an airline worker in Saudi Arabia, stated he was not aware of the law which prohibits drivers from carrying passengers in a towed vehicle.
The father of three has been ordered to pay a fine of £900 and a further £215 in court costs along with having his driving license revoked for two years.
After sentencing at the Magistrates court in Caernarfon, Sgt Ifan Jones who works with the North Wales Police Roads Policing Unit highlighted the dangers of towing a caravan with passengers on board: “The consequences of this caravan overturning or being involved in a collision are unimaginable. It was risking the lives of innocent people unnecessarily” he said.
