S’porean man, 31, hits car while licence suspended, shows police screenshot of another man's licence, gets caught

A 31-year-old Singaporean man drove a car while his licence was suspended, collided with another vehicle, and showed police officers a screenshot of someone else’s driving licence to deceive them.

He was sentenced to 13 weeks’ jail, fined S$3,400, and disqualified from holding all classes of driving licenses for five years.

In a separate incident, he abandoned a vehicle on the expressway after crashing it.

Cheong Melvin faced eight charges, including providing false information and charges under the Road Traffic Act and the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks And Compensation) Act.

He pleaded guilty to six of the charges and was sentenced on Sep. 10.

Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Hit car while reversing

In court documents seen by Mothership, on Jan. 26, 2025, Cheong was driving a Bentley to his employer’s residence to play cards.

At about 1am, he drove into Cardiff Grove in Serangoon Garden and realised he had made a wrong turn.

He then stopped the vehicle to execute a three-point turn.

However, Cheong failed to keep a proper lookout when reversing and hit the rear portion of another vehicle.

At the time of the incident, the vehicle owner was at home.

He heard a loud bang and walked out to his open balcony and saw that Cheong’s vehicle had rear-ended his car.

The owner immediately called the police after assessing the damage to his motor car, namely scratch marks and scraped paint on the left rear bumper.

While waiting for the police to arrive, he exchanged particulars with Cheong.

At the time of the accident, the weather was fine, the road surface was dry, the traffic flow was light, and the visibility was clear.

Screenshot of licence

At about 1:20am, police officers arrived.

After ascertaining that there were no injuries, a police officer proceeded to verify Cheong’s driving licence.

Cheong claimed that he had left his physical driving licence and personal mobile phone at home.

He then showed the officer a screenshot of a physical driving licence on his company mobile phone, which showed the identity details of a former employee.

When queried, Cheong told the officers that it was his driving licence.

However, the officer noticed that the photograph did not match Cheong's face.

Cheong was asked to read out his NRIC number, but was unable to do so.

The officer then conducted a facial recognition screening by taking a photograph of Cheong.

A subsequent notification from the Police Operations Command Centre confirmed that the facial screening matched "Cheong Melvin".

Admitted to lying

The officer continued to question Cheong about his true identity, and he eventually admitted it.

Cheong claimed he was helping a former employee apply for motor insurance coverage and needed a screenshot of his physical driving licence.

He further admitted to lying to the officer as he was driving whilst under a disqualification order.

Cheong also confessed that he was driving the motor car without an insurance policy.

He lied to the officer as he did not want to be arrested.

Further investigations revealed that Cheong was convicted on Nov. 16, 2023, for drunk driving and was sentenced to a fine of S$2,000 and disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a period of 24 months from Nov. 16, 2023, to Nov. 15, 2025.

He was arrested on Jan. 26, 2025, at about 4am and released on the same day at about 8:42am on station bail.

Abandoned car

In a separate incident, on Jun. 16, 2025, at about 4:50pm, a 46-year-old Malaysian man was driving his vehicle along the Tampines Expressway (TPE) towards the Seletar Expressway (SLE).

A 40-year-old Malaysian man accompanied him.

Upon approaching the 8.4km mark along the expressway, the driver experienced a minor mechanical issue and pulled over onto the shoulder.

As he was alighting from his car, he noticed Cheong’s vehicle approaching his vehicle in the right-view mirror.

Cheong was also driving along the road at the time of the incident.

The man felt a jolt after Cheong rear-ended the right rear portion of his motor vehicle, causing a dent and crumpling it.

Cheong’s vehicle’s front bumper was ripped off, and the front windshield sustained cracks.

Further investigations revealed that Cheong lost his focus and failed to keep a proper lookout ahead at the time of the incident.

As a result, his vehicle veered left and collided with the car.

The weather was fine, the road surface was dry, visibility was fair, and traffic flow was moderate that day.

Cheong then abandoned his vehicle after exchanging particulars with the man.

Surveillance cameras captured the incident.

Injuries

Following the incident, the two men in the vehicle that Cheong hit sought treatment on the same day.

The older man sustained a cut on the right side of his head and pain in the neck and lower back area.

He was given four days of medical leave.

The younger man suffered neck and lower back pain.

He was also given four days of medical leave.