Tom Hollis, the deputy leader of Ashfield District Council, has been found guilty of careless driving after he sped along in his Range Rover Evoque with police in pursuit on his way home from bingo. Once one of the youngest councillors in Britain, Tom Hollis is now facing sentencing over harassing his former neighbours in lockdown and for driving without due care and attention months later in Sutton-in-Ashfield.
Hollis, 28, was convicted of two harassment charges by District Judge Leo Pyle on Thursday (September 22) involving his former neighbours in Windmill Close, Sutton-in-Ashfield, in May 2020. As relations between him and his neighbours broke down, Hollis had "play-acted" in a 999 call as if he was being chased by one neighbour, Luke Golding, with a one-foot to a foot-and-half long knife - which never happened.
Following the shock of that conviction, which Hollis told Nottinghamshire Live he was "disappointed" at and he planned to appeal, his second trial followed, where he faced a charge of careless driving.
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All charges were denied by Hollis, of Yew Tree Drive, Huthwaite, but he was convicted on all, including the careless driving in a second trial which ended on Friday (September 23) at Nottingham Magistrates' Court. Hollis, who had saved up for the Range Rover and had only been the owner of it for three months, was spotted by two police officers driving at speed after a night out at bingo.
The officers followed in their unmarked Volvo. District Judge Grace Leong accepted the evidence of the officers - that their attention was first drawn to the car as this defendant had driven past them at "excessive speed". "It was for that reason that the police turned their car around to follow the defendant," she told the court.
One officer, a PC Kirk, said he followed the Range Rover at speeds up to 70mph, and the officer's car flew over speed humps in excess of 60mph. He followed Hollis for 700 metres before he activated his blue lights and, when he was 120 metres from the Range Rover, he said Hollis did not indicate at a first roundabout, but did at the second.
The police car was three to four lengths behind when the Range Rover reversed and PC Kirk hit the horn and activated the siren at the same time. He said the Range Rover started to move and kept coming back at their unmarked car. The officer said his purpose was to stop the Range Rover in order to conduct checks on the vehicle.
He also stated, when he saw the car, which he said was travelling too fast, it was "bouncing all over the place".
"There would be no reason for the police to follow his car that night if he had been driving at 30mph," added Judge Leong. "Police had followed Hollis, in his Range Rover Evoque, from Outram Street, along Northern Bridge Road, to the petrol station forecourt of Asda on Priestsic Road, in Sutton-in-Ashfield.
Hollis allegedly sped across the petrol station forecourt, making a member of the public "frightened for his own safety", said Mark Fielding, who had prosecuted the case.
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The judge was sure the police officers were "telling the truth - the defendant's car was driving at high speed". She found that Hollis refused to stop for police.
She also rejected Hollis' version of events - that he failed to hear the siren from the police car when he began reversing. Hollis, who was playing music, had not deliberately reversed into the police car when he reached Asda.
But the judge said it was clear from CCTV footage that the lights from the police car were still flashing. The judge said if it was "clear to me viewing the footage when the camera was situated from a distance away, I am of the view the defendant would have seen flashing lights behind him from the rear view mirror and it is utterly implausible he did not look in the reverse camera automatically activated when putting the car in reverse".
She concluded she could not be sure he would have deliberately driven his newly-bought 68-plate car backwards to cause a collision. However, she was sure when he reversed his car into the police car, Hollis had failed to make proper checks - despite being aware of the police vehicle at the rear - because he believed the space behind him "to be of no relevance".
"I have to find as fact he was aware he was driving at excessive speeds and, I find, he was driving at more than 60mph-70mph in Outram Street, although sharply breaking at the roundabout. His speed was still fast when he drove on to the forecourt.
"I find he was in fact aware of the police car flashing its blue lights and he knew there was a person on the forecourt refuelling his car. Regardless of that, the way the defendant swung his car onto the forecourt, caused Mr Gregory (who was fuelling his car) to step back in shock and fear.
"I find the defendant's failure to make proper checks for the police car, when he reversed at 5mph, causing damage to both cars, to be careless driving". She said Hollis was "very lucky" he was not prosecuted for an offence of driving dangerously after driving in excess of 60-70mph in a built-up area when other cars and some pedestrians were about, even if the distance was under a mile.
Hollis will be sentenced for all offences on October 13.
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