A PASSENGER who swapped seats with an uninsured driver has had six points added to her licence.

Mia Whitelock, 21, was the front seat passenger in a Citroen DS3 being driven by her partner in Whitehaven on October 27.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting at Workington Magistrates’ Court, said police witnessed the vehicle ‘constantly braking and stopping in intervals’ on Thornton Road.

The officer stopped the vehicle then witnessed two people swapping seats. The defendant was sat in the driver’s seat and her partner was in the passenger seat.

Her partner only held a provisional licence and didn’t have any insurance. Whitelock denied she had swapped seats with him despite having been seen by the police.

She later attended a voluntary interview with police but made ‘no comment’ throughout.

John Cooper, defending, said: “It’s a guilty plea at the first opportunity.

“He had jumped in the driver’s side in what she thought would be private land.

“There is an argument about it. Police are behind them. They have swapped seats. She has tried to protect him.

“The obstruction is relatively low level. The partner has been dealt with for only no insurance, despite it being his idea to swap seats.

“There’s quite clearly been pressure put on her by someone else.”

Whitelock, of Caldbeck Road, Whitehaven, pleaded guilty to permitting the use of a motor vehicle with no insurance and obstructing a constable in execution of duty.

Magistrates added six points to the defendant’s driving licence and fined her £475.

She was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £190 surcharge.