LUKE Derek Cowan did not show up at Orange Local Court on Thursday and was fined $3000 in his absence.
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The 33-year-old Millthorpe man was disqualified from driving until 2017, but that did not stop him.
Police facts said on November 27, Cowan was seen by a police officer who believed his licence was suspended so the officer gave Cowan a court attendance notice for driving while disqualified.
On March 3 the same police officer, who was off-duty at the time, saw Cowan driving on the same stretch of road in Victoria Street in Millthorpe.
He signalled for Cowan to pull over, which he did, eventually.
“It’s raining. What am I meant to do?” he told the officer.
The officer said he was disqualified and could not “pick and choose” when to drive.
Cowan left the car, grabbed his backpack and walked off, but the officer believed he would come back for the car and drive it to work.
Sure enough, the officer returned some time later and the car was not where he had left it and it was not at Cowan’s home.
Magistrate Terry Lucas fined him $1500 for driving while disqualified and $1500 for driving an unregistered vehicle.
