College student posed as 'exam cheat for hire' to illegally sit theory tests on behalf of struggling learner drivers
27.04.2023 - 19:25
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A college student set himself up as an 'exam cheat for hire' so he could illegally sit driving theory tests on behalf of struggling learner drivers - charging £300 a time.
Olivier Yolo, 27, agreed to fraudulently take theory tests for cash at a series of DVLA centres across the north when the real applicants who were due to take them feared they would fail.
The engineering undergraduate, of Lathbury Road, Monsall, masqueraded as a string of provisionally-licenced motorists in seven separate theory tests - including in Stockport and Bolton - after being put in touch with them through his local barber.
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He was eventually arrested when staff became suspicious of him whilst trying to take a test at the Stockport centre in August last year.
It emerged Yolo, who had passed his driving test a year before the scam, had tried to sit other theory tests at Preston, Bolton, Scarborough, Sheffield and Chester. He sat tests for two of his clients twice. It is not known if he passed any of them.
Yolo later claimed he had been struggling financially and the ruse seemed like 'easy money' - although he insisted he never actually pocketed any cash. A theory exam in which applicants are tested on their knowledge of the Highway Code costs £23.
At Chester Magistrates' Court, Yolo pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud by false representation. His case was sent to Chester Crown Court for sentencing on May 24.
Andrew Stewardson, prosecuting on behalf of the DVLA said: "The matter relates to seven incidents of attempting to sit driver theory test of third parties, different third parties on each occasion, and often in a different location.
"It came to light on August 18 of