A 47-year-old father was arrested, endured 16 hours locked in a police cell, then was forced off the road for four months after a clerical error wrongly recorded him as a banned driver.
Andrew Lees, an IT consultant from Sale, Greater Manchester, was arrested while driving his wife's Kia near their home when police checks incorrectly flagged that he was disqualified.
The driving offences that triggered the ban were not his, and had been mistakenly added to his DVLA record.
Mr Lees, who had no prior court history, tried repeatedly to resolve the error before his arrest - with no luck.
The blunder came as a result of the Single Justice Procedure, a system where magistrates convict drivers for minor motoring offences in fast-track hearings held behind closed doors without legal representation.
In November 2025, a DVLA letter told Mr Lees he had been banned at Carlisle Magistrates' Court after building up 19 penalty points on his licence.
The offences were committed by a different driver in Greater Manchester, according to the Mail.
Mr Lees went to significant effort to uncover how his record had been wrongly marked, but could not even locate the relevant court file.
He said: "I absolutely knew those points were not mine. I thought it was just an admin error that would be easily cleared up.
"But, after repeated emails, letters and calls to the DVLA, to the Cumbrian Magistrates' Court and to the Single Justice Service, I had no resolution.
"It was clearly a mistake, so I genuinely thought it would be ok to drive."
The situation escalated in February when police stopped him while driving and arrested him on the spot.
Mr Lees said officers pulled him over, breathalysed him twice and told him: "Let's just get in the back of the van and we can sort this out."
"Suddenly I'm arrested and heading to the cells," the father-of-two recounted. "It was terrifying. The officers just wouldn't listen to what I was telling them. I was locked up eight miles from home for something I hadn't done and facing a court case which could lead to jail."
"I tried to stay strong in the cells, but inside I was crying my eyes out."
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His only food during the 16-hour detention was pot noodles for every meal.
When he was released on bail with a June court date, he faced four months unable to drive.
The mistake severely disrupted his family life, leaving him unable to do the school run or take his daughters, aged nine and five, to birthday parties.
The family hired criminal defence specialists Olliers Solicitors, adding significant legal costs to their ordeal.
Olliers motoring solicitor Austin Anderson-Brettell examined the records and found that offences committed by another defendant had been incorrectly assigned to Mr Lees' driving licence number.
Even after the Crown Prosecution Service was told, the case was not immediately dropped.
The CPS finally relented just one day before Mr Lees's court date.
But despite his eventual success in halting the court action, the Kia is still impounded by Greater Manchester Police - despite the couple's attempts to reclaim it.
The CPS said the accusations against the 47-year-old fell into a category where police can authorise charges without consulting them.
A Crown Prosecutor "immediately decided the matter should be discontinued" the day before his court date, the CPS added.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "Officers acting on good faith with incorrect information from a clerical error made the arrest of a man in relation to a driving offence.
"Once this error was rectified, the matter was discontinued and the crime closed. The car has since been passed back to a third party pending final release."
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