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A man in Singapore failed his basic theory test four times but that did not deter him from renting cars from BlueSG a total of 49 times within three months.

He was caught during a routine traffic police check, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The accused, whose name was reported as Chen Cheng Quan, was slapped with three charges, including driving without a valid driver's licence and driving without valid insurance coverage.

The court heard that he had failed his theory test because of language weaknesses and not because he did not know how to drive.

How he got caught

On the afternoon of July 28, 2021, he drove his wife from Bukit Panjang to IKEA Tampines in a rented BlueSG car.

After leaving IKEA Tampines at around 3:30pm, the accused was driving towards the expressway when he was flagged down by a traffic police officer who was conducting a routine check.

He was found to have been driving without a valid driver's licence.

Rented BlueSG car 49 times

Investigations revealed that the accused had rented the BlueSG car 49 times between May 7 and July 28, 2021.

It was also discovered that the accused had tried to take his basic theory test for driving since 2019, in which he did it four times but failed.

Could not pass basic theory test didn't mean he couldn't drive

The public prosecutor said in court that the fact that Chen failed to pass his basic theory test four times was an indication he was not fit to drive on the road, and sought a jail sentence from the judge.

The accused, who did not have a lawyer to represent him, said in his defence that he failed to pass his basic theory test as he was unable to understand some of the English words used.

He then tried his hand at the Chinese version of the basic theory test, but also ended up failing.

The accused said he disagreed with the public prosecutor that he did not know how to drive, as he was just not good at passing tests.

Wanted to bring family out

The judge responded that it did not matter why the accused did not pass his tests, as driving without a valid driver's licence was already wrong.

In his defence, the accused, who showed up in court with his wife and child in tow, said he rented the car for his family as he wanted to ferry them around together.

In response, the judge rebuked the accused and said he had many other choices but chose the wrong one.

The accused then pleaded with the judge for leniency, and requested not to be jailed but be put under probation or given a fine.

The judge replied that the accused should not get his hopes up, but he will put him down for a probation suitability report as he had previously been given a chance before when he was caught up in the law.

How accused managed to rent BlueSG car

The accused was previously charged in court for having sex with a minor.

It transpired that the accused and the victim subsequently got married.

A friend of the accused lent his driving licence to the accused to rent a wedding car.

The accused kept a copy of the info of the driver's licence and used it for the BlueSG registration and subsequent rentals.

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