Two-year driving ban for woman after wheelchair car park drag

A woman has been handed a two-year driving ban after she was caught on camera dragging a friend in a wheelchair behind her car in a supermarket car park in Sunderland. Maria Adams' prank ended up costing her more than £1,400 and her license when she towed a man sitting in a borrowed wheelchair outside the Tesco in Roker.

The call center worker, from Whitburn, South Tyneside, repeatedly drove up and down the car park with her friend holding on to a towel hanging out of the boot of her Nissan Juke. Watched by a handful of astonished shoppers, Adams sped up before the man in the wheelchair let go and was sent whizzing along with the momentum.
The prank, caught on the supermarket's security cameras, lasted several minutes. She appeared at Newcastle Crown Court and admitted dangerous driving. The court heard the friend did not require a wheelchair and had jumped in one owned by the store for customer use.

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Adams, 20, was disqualified from driving for two years, ordered to pay £1,369 prosecution costs and a £60 victim surcharge. She was also given a four-month curfew and a 12-month community order. Judge Penny Moreland described the driving as "a piece of stupidity".