An IT consultant spent 16 hours in a police cell and was unable to drive for four months due to a DVLA error that mistakenly attributed someone else's driving ban to his record. Andrew Lees, 47, discovered the error in November 2025 when he received a letter from the DVLA stating he had been banned from driving by Carlisle Magistrates' Court after accumulating 19 penalty points.
The ban was issued under the Single Justice Procedure, a system where magistrates handle minor motoring offenses in fast-track, closed-door hearings without requiring legal representation. While the case was processed in Carlisle, the offenses themselves were believed to have been committed by another driver in Greater Manchester.
Lees, who had no prior court appearances, made repeated attempts to rectify the mistake by contacting the Single Justice Service and the DVLA. He received no resolution and, believing it to be a simple administrative error, continued to drive.
His situation escalated in February when police stopped him while he was driving. The erroneous information on his record led to his arrest and detention for 16 hours. Lees described the experience as terrifying, stating that officers did not believe his explanations and that he faced potential jail time for an offense he did not commit. He was held eight miles from home and was provided with limited food during his detention.
After his release on bail, Lees faced a four-month period where he was unable to drive. This significantly impacted his family life, preventing him from performing everyday tasks such as taking his two daughters, aged nine and five, to school and extracurricular activities. The family hired criminal defense specialists Olliers Solicitors to address the issue.
Solicitor Austin Anderson-Brettell reviewed the records and identified that offenses belonging to another individual had been wrongly linked to Lees' driving license number. Despite informing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of the error, the case was not immediately dropped. The CPS stated that the accusations against Lees were of a category where police could authorize charges without prior consultation. It was only when a Crown Prosecutor reviewed the case the day before it was scheduled to be heard that the prosecution decided to discontinue the matter.
Anderson-Brettell criticized the Single Justice Procedure, highlighting its lack of transparency and the risk of convictions without meaningful defendant engagement. He suggested that the system's flaws could lead to further avoidable mistakes and injustices, eroding public confidence in the justice process.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police acknowledged that officers acted on incorrect information due to a clerical error, leading to the arrest. The matter was discontinued once the error was rectified. Lees' wife's car remained impounded pending final release.