Hollyoaks’ Jamie Lomas escapes driving ban after it is revealed that court handed him six-month disqualification without his knowledge
The soap star had crashed his £40k BMW into a parked car outside the Trafford Centre
JAMIE Lomas has escaped a driving ban after a court banned him from the roads without his knowledge.
The actor, who plays Hollyoaks bad boy Warren Fox, crashed his £40,000 BMW into a parked car outside the Trafford Centre near Manchester.
He was subsequently given a six-month driving disqualification - but the actor's lawyer claimed he wasn't even aware that there had been an incident.
Legal letters had been sent to a terraced house Jamie is thought to lived in but he failed to respond to documents telling him to attend court as he lives in an apartment in Salford Quays near Manchester.
He was given two chances to attend by JPs at Manchester before they then dealt with him in January without any legal representation present.
This was despite the fact that he already had six points on his licence for two speeding incidents.
During the hearing, which only had a court clerk and a journalist present, Jamie was convicted of failing to give information about who was driving the BMW and a further six points on his licence.
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This meant that he was banned under the totting up procedure.
Jamie was fined £660 and ordered to pay £151 costs. The ruling also put him at risk of jail for driving whilst disqualified if he was pulled over by the police while he was in his car.
The actor attended the hearing on Monday at the same court where the case against him was formally withdrawn.
His lawyer Peter Grogan revealed that the actor had no idea about the crash.
The court heard the legal notices were not sent within a legally designated 14 day period.
Mr Grogan added: ''On the basis that there is no evidence that the defendant was aware there was an accident, there is no case."
The crash had occurred on September 10 last year when Lomas' 2012 BMW X6 was driven in a car park at the Trafford Centre and collided with a parked car. The three litre 4X4 was registered to a £115,000 terrace house in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, which neighbours said Jamie lived at last year before renting it out.
Prosecuting, Vincent Yip said: "There was reportedly an incident on the 10th of September 2016 involving a BMW vehicle. This vehicle didn't stop but details were given to the police.
"On the 3rd of October 2016 a notice is sent to Mr Lomas and a reminder is then sent and no response to this notice was received. The 3rd of October is slightly out of the standard two week time that the court must serve this notice.
"This two week notice does not apply if during the offence there was an accident. It would then re apply if the driver was unaware that there had been an accident.
"Because the prosecution cannot prove that there was any evidence that the defendant was aware there was an accident, the 14 day process would still apply and I must ask you to withdraw this case.''
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