AN ILLEGAL driving instructor took thousands of pounds from learners, including a close family friend, by pretending he was fully-qualified.

Martin Bowyer, of West Street, Leek, advertised his services in his wife's hairdressing shop and via a box on top of his Vauxhall Corsa.

The 48-year-old took hundreds of lessons, around five a day, between January 13, 2006 and May 22 last year, when he was arrested for fraud in the middle of a lesson.

He was given a suspended prison sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to six charges of fraud at an earlier hearing.

The court heard Bowyer had enrolled on a course to become a qualified instructor in 2002, paying a fee of around £2,500, but he only attended on three occasions.

He fitted his car with dual controls and was in the middle of teaching a female who had already paid him about £1,000 when he was arrested.

Learner drivers paid him between £17 and £30 per lesson and some took up to 50 lessons. Bowyer was also charged with having no insurance because the vehicle was not insured for other people to drive it.

Prosecutor Heather Chamberlin said: "He had gone to some trouble in fitting out his vehicle with some controls and a box on top saying his name and phone number so it appeared to paying customers he was a proper driving instructor."

The Driving Standards Agency's (DSA) fraud and integrity team worked with the police to investigate Bowyer's fraudulent activity and when interviewed, Bowyer claimed he was "self-taught and didn't realise he had to be approved".

Urging Judge Paul Glenn to avoid an immediate custodial sentence, Catherine O'Reilly, defending, said Bowyer was ashamed of his actions and said he got into the situation when he was in financial difficulty.

Bowyer, who is also a football coach in the Staffordshire Moorlands, asked for 19 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and also given an 18 month supervision order and an unpaid work requirement of 200 hours.

In addition, he was banned from driving for a year.

Judge Glenn said: "I take a serious view of these offences as they were pre-meditated. The offences involved a breach of trust. You put the people you were teaching at risk and other motorists at risk."

He added: "It's plain you were not particularly brilliant at what you were doing. You knew what the legal requirements were and chose to ignore them. I believe these offences were probably the tip of the iceberg."

Speaking after the sentencing, Andrew Rice, the DSA's head of fraud and integrity, said: "Mr Bowyer showed no consideration for the safety of his pupils, in spite of one being a close family friend."

One of Bowyer's victims, who paid £1,000 for lessons, said: "If I had known he was not authorised when I started my lessons, I would never have embarked on driving lessons with him."

People who want to teach driving professionally are assessed by the DSA before they are allowed to register as an approved instructor.