Jail for ‘arrogant’ driver who bragged about giving police slip on social media despite being banned

A banned driver who bragged about giving police the slip on social media despite 12 previous convictions for driving whilst disqualified has been jailed.

Danny Simpson’s Range Rover was spotted outside a restaurant in swanky Mayfair, central London, last December despite him being repeatedly disqualified from driving since 2006.

A month earlier, the 31-year-old had been labelled a “high harm offender” and assigned to the Met Police’s Road Crime Team for driving dangerously on roads across London, Kent and Essex.

Simpson had already been convicted of driving whilst disqualified a dozen times before and was known to brag about his dangerous antics on social media.

But instead of coming clean, Simpson began mocking officers when he exited the restaurant in Berkeley Street, claiming they could never prove that he had been driving.

CCTV footage and witness statements however, firmly placed him in the driving seat.

Evidence was also uncovered on social media, which showed him driving to the restaurant in a distinctive blue and white t-shirt.

Simpson became disruptive during a police interview after being arrested on 21 December 2020.

He initially pleaded not guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on March 1 this year.

But faced with “overwhelming evidence”, the repeat offender changed his pleas to guilty a few days before his trial began at City of London Magistrates Court.

Simpson, of Gravesend, Kent, was sentenced to 12 weeks’ in prison, ordered to pay £328 in fines, and again disqualified from driving for a further 21-months.

Insp Danny Mount, of the Met’s Road Crime Team, said: “It is clear in this case that Danny Simpson had no regard for the law or anybody else’s safety.

“Such is Simpson’s blatant disregard for the law by continuing to drive whilst disqualified, a custodial sentence was imposed by the court.

“Simpson was arrogant enough to think he would not get caught. This is clearly not the case.”

He added: “Officers from the Road Crime Team will continue to work tirelessly and relentlessly to remove dangerous drivers, like Simpson, from London’s roads.

“I hope he uses his time in prison to reconsider his attitude to driving, which could have resulted in serious harm to the public.”

The Met’s Road Crime Team was established in April 2020 in a bid to crack down on serious offences committed on London’s roads.

It deploys seven days-a-week in marked and unmarked vehicles, as well as motorcycles, and has made hundreds of arrests over the past 18-months.

It participates in a wide range of operations, including using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), intercepting criminals and wanted offenders, as well as focused deployments in the Met’s priority crime areas working alongside the Violent Crime Task Force, Territorial Support Group and Dog Section.