Highway to L: Angry learner driver, 33, hijacks examiner's car and takes him on terror ride after te

Highway to L: Angry learner driver, 33, hijacks examiner's car and takes him on terror ride after test is cancelled

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:26 PM on 6th April 2011

• Comments (29)
  
• Add to My Stories
  

A furious learner driver took an examiner on a journey from hell after being told his test could not go ahead.

Father-of-two Artur Nowak, 33, sped through a red light with terrified examiner Karl Pollitt in the passenger seat.

Nowak, from Salford, Greater Manchester, stared straight ahead and ignored Mr Pollitt's pleas to stop as he broke the speed limit on a busy road.

Driven mad: Artur Nowak took his examiner on a journey from hell after being told his test could not go ahead.

Seeing red: Nowak sped through a stop light, leaving his terrified examiner an 'emotional wreck'

A shaken Mr Pollitt eventually managed to get out when Nowak pulled into a side road.

But Nowak accelerated away and the car door hit the examiner in the face, leaving him with a swollen eye.

More...

• £2 fee to use a council tip: Fury as town halls bring in 'rubbish tax'
  
• Operation overkill: £20,000, eight police, one helicopter, two dog units and three patrol cars to trap pair who stole 47p of scrap
  
• Motorist was so drunk he drove four miles without realising he had a wheel missing
  

Mr Pollitt was left 'an emotional wreck' by his ordeal, a court heard.

He was off work for a long period and needed counselling, Bolton Crown Court was told.

The jury heard how Polish Nowak, of Kimberley Street, had become angry when the examiner told him that his test, in Rochdale, could not go ahead.

Mr Pollitt had spotted that Nowak's car had an electronically-operated handbrake, which is not allowed in the test.

Incredible journey: Rochdale, where the terrifying drive took place. The court heard Nowak had failed a previous driving test and been abusive towards another examiner

Nowak was desperate to pass because he believed he needed a British licence for his work as a property maintenance engineer for a Salford housing association.

But ironically he was allowed by law to continue driving with his Polish driving licence.

Susan Carter, prosecuting, said Mr Pollitt was shaking and felt sick after his 10-minute ordeal.

She said: 'The whole experience has left him anxious and frightened.'

Mark Friend, defending, said Nowak, who has lived in Britain since 2003, was genuinely remorseful after the incident on October 20. He said Nowak had been under immense pressure.

The court heard that Nowak had failed a previous driving test and had been abusive towards another examiner.

Nowak, who admitted false imprisonment, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and pay £250 compensation.