A BUSINESSMAN and his wife have been ordered to pay £4,000 and he was banned from driving for six months after they were convicted of failing to name a driver whose overtaking near Dolgellau was caught on a ‘dash-cam’.

Bryan Pocock, 43, and Susanna Pocock, 38, both of Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury, told a district judge at Llandudno how they went to bible meetings.

But Judge Gwyn Jones said his evidence was “lacking in precision, on occasions evasive and lacking in basic credibility”. He added: “There’s a deliberate pattern of trying to avoid responsibility.”

Mrs Pocock was “also particularly evasive,” the judge commented.

Prosecutor Andrew Perry said police had been contacted by a car driver with dash-cam footage of another motorist who appeared to be in a “tearing hurry.” The footage showed a VW Passatt estate overtaking on the A470 near Cross Foxes, Dolgellau.

Judge Jones said it was alleged the VW overtook vehicles when there was a blind bend and people could potentially have emerged from a lay-by.

Pocock, director of a firm which provides storage tanks worldwide, claimed he couldn’t recall whether he or his wife had been driving on a Saturday in September last year.

She maintained in evidence: “We do swap around.”

The couple denied failing to identify the driver to police.

Defence barrister Andrew McInnes said they were “upstanding” members of the community and he urged the judge to find that they supplied the information that they could.

Judge Jones said the VW was described as Mrs Pocock’s company car.

He asked: "If an alleged offence of careless or dangerous driving has been committed, wouldn’t a responsible company take such steps as to identify the driver of that vehicle?”

Pocock had “done nothing to try and ascertain who that vehicle was being driven by at the relevant time.”

Each defendant was fined £1,000 with £1,000 costs. Mr Pocock was banned because of the number of penalty points on his licence. Mrs Pocock kept her licence, but received six penalty points.