A Magistrate has called for a change in the law so that motorists who are caught without their drivers' licences or insurance while on the road can be penalised.

And Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves urged prison sentences for people who are caught giving false names when stopped by Police and said he would be looking to work out an agreed tougher line of sentencing with his fellow magistrates.

Mr. Greaves was speaking as he fined Pembroke woman Cherrie Woods for attempting to pervert the course of justice by giving Police officers a false name when her car was stopped on Blackwatch Pass, Pembroke on July 21, 2001.

Woods, 37, of St. John's Road, admitted giving the wrong name to officers at the time and she apologised to the court.

Last month, then Acting Senior Magistrate Will Francis handed down a suspended prison sentence, as well as $500 fine, to a man who was caught doing the same thing.

Yesterday, Mr. Greaves warned Woods that she could have gone to prison for three months, which is the maximum sentence for such an offence, but instead he fined her $500.

He told Woods: “I am inclined to follow the example of my brother magistrate and give you a prison sentence for this. You should go to jail for it. A recent case in the Privy Council supports that.” Currently motorists are required to carry their licences with them, but they are not penalised provided that they produce it within 24 hours at a Police station.

He said the only way to deal with the problem of people giving false names was to threaten those who do not carry their licenses or registration in the car with them with a penalty.