Deputy High Court judge ordered to pay £5k for wasting court time
15 February 2013
A Deputy High Court judge has been accused of burying a court in paperwork in an attempt to overturn a traffic charge. Kuldip Singh QC failed in his bid for a £60 refund and has been ordered to pay £5k costs.

Back in 2011 Singh was prosecuted for blasting his 3.2 litre C-Class Mercedes through a red light at 64mph in a 30mph zone. Singh refused to accept the £60 fine, and dragged the City of London and the courts on an epic year-long journey encompassing four hearings. The Telegraph reports that Singh submitted three bulging lever arch files to support his complaint, which boiled down to not getting the chance to pay an on-the-spot fine. Apparently it was all sufficient to have "overwhelmed" the CPS.

Singh driving home to collect some more paperwork

The QC met with humiliation when he finally pleaded guilty. Presiding District Judge Quentin Purdy, presumably not a drinking chum, ridiculed Singh's claim as a “fallacy from the start”, and admonished his peer for wasting a “substantial amount” of the court's time and resources. Singh was forced to pay the £60 fine and got three points on his licence, and was ordered to pay the prosecution's £5k costs.

The Office for Judicial Complaints is now working out what to do with a judge who shat on his own doorstep for a year.