Police stopped a car on a busy road in Nottingham and found it was carrying 14 people.
Response officers pulled over the seven-seater Vauxhall Zafira along Nottingham Road, New Basford, on Monday (27 May) believing it was overloaded.
But they were shocked to find there were double the number of legally allowed passengers inside – including eight children who were not wearing seatbelts.
The male driver was summonsed to court for driving without due care and attention, failing to ensure children under the age of 14 were wearing a seatbelt and using a motor vehicle where the number of passengers was likely to cause danger.
PC Dan Bird, of the Radford Road Response team, said:
“Carrying too many passengers in a vehicle is a serious offence, primarily due to the safety risks it poses.
“People are twice as likely to die in a car accident if they do not wear a seatbelt, which is why we were extremely alarmed to find eight children without seatbelts inside this vehicle.
“Drivers should always adhere to their vehicle’s passenger capacity as failure to do so can have devastating consequences.
“Furthermore, driving with more passengers than there are seatbelts can void your car insurance, leaving you uninsured in the event of an accident.
“You can also face penalty points on your license and a fine. In severe cases, you might be summoned to court where penalties could be more significant.”
By law, all drivers and passengers must wear a seat belt while travelling in a car, van or other vehicles whether they are sitting in the front of the car or as a passenger in the back seat.
The person driving is responsible for making sure children under the age of 14 are wearing one. For passengers aged 14 and over it is their own responsibility to wear a seat belt.
Passengers caught failing to wear a seat belt when one is available, unless they have a special reason not to, can be asked to pay a £100 fine.
The fine can increase to £500 if the case goes to court.
