AN OPTICIAN drove for 40 miles on a busy motorway in a dangerously smashed up car after failing to see the extent of the damage.

Rohali Nawaz pressed on at 50mph down the M62 after smashing up the suspension on his Mercedes, leaving the vehicle unstable and unable to steer properly, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Nawaz hit the central reservation on the southbound A1(M) causing “obvious and significant damage” and leaving the car unfit to drive, prosecutor Victoria Barker said.

The rear bumper was missing, a headlamp was insecure and the front wing was badly damaged, with sharp edges exposed. The metalwork was rubbing on the front tyre causing a deep groove. The offside wheel trim was damaged and the wishbone arm fractured. A shock absorber was severely bent and a mounting brush split from the heavy frontal impact.

Miss Barker said the Mercedes was first noticed heading southbound on the A1(M) at 7.30pm on May 4.

The badly damaged car was doing 50mph approaching the M62.

Police officers on motorway patrol pursued the vehicle and ordered Nawaz, 33, of Bury Old Road, Manchester, to stop.

A visual check of the car showed it was unfit to drive. An examination of the underneath of the Mercedes revealed the broken suspension and severed track rod steering arm.

Nawaz told the police he thought it was just “metal damage” to his vehicle.

He conceded that there was a scraping noise from the damaged bodywork rubbing against the front wheel.

“The Crown would say that the defendant must have been aware that there was risk here,” Miss Barker said.

“He went 50mph on a busy motorway for at least 40 miles before he was stopped by the police.”

Nawaz pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the M62 westbound at Brighouse at his first appearance before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court.

His barrister, Stephen Wood, said it was an unusual case of dangerous driving.

Nawaz, who had no previous convictions, was a highly qualified optician with a wife and two children. His car was legally taxed, tested and insured.

“This is a very different sort of dangerous driving than so often comes before these courts,” Mr Wood said.

Nawaz had no engineering qualifications, so it was difficult to put much store by what he saw after crashing the car.

“It has been a shaming and salutary experience for him,” Mr Wood told the court.

Nawaz would have to appear before the General Optical Council to discover if his career could continue following the conviction.

Urging Judge Neil Davey QC to impose a non custodial sentence, Mr Wood said: “This was a very negligent offence, very different from the sort of chases we see through the streets of Bradford on regular occasions.”

Judge Davey sentenced Nawaz to a 12 month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work. He was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £250 court costs.

“You are a highly trained, highly qualified, professional man,” the judge told Nawaz.

It was not a typical case of dangerous driving. It was the damage to the car that represented the danger as Nawaz tried to get home in it.

“Things could have gone disastrously wrong, with some damaged part from the vehicle flying off and hitting another vehicle, but fortunately, it didn’t,” Judge Davey said.