Jamie Wallis: Bridgend MP fined and banned from driving after crashing car and fleeing scene

A Conservative MP has been fined and banned from driving after crashing his car into a lamppost late one night last year.

Jamie Wallis, 38, who represents Bridgend, was convicted of failing to stop, failing to report a road traffic collision and leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position.

He was acquitted of a further charge, driving without due care and attention, by District Judge Tan Ikram at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Monday 11 July.

The MP has been disqualified from driving for six months and fined thousands of pounds.

The crash happened on Church Road, Llanblethian, south Wales, on November 28 2021.

The trial, which only lasted one day, heard Mr Wallis claim he had been driving "relatively slow" when he saw a cat in the road and swerved to avoid it - colliding with the lamppost.

The prosecution suggested Wallis could have made an emergency stop rather than swerving and claimed the damage done was not that of a "low-speed" collision.

A witness told they court they saw Wallis leave the scene after they had told the MP they were going to call the police.

'PTSD attack'

Wallis said he had left out of fear because he had a "PTSD attack" and felt as if he could be "raped, killed or kidnapped".

The court heard Wallis had been diagnosed with PTSD after being raped in September last year and had been suffering nightmares and flashbacks since then.

Earlier this year, Mr Wallis posted a statement online in which he came out as transgender but added that for the time being, he intended to keep using the pronouns he/him/his. In this post on social media, he also said he had been raped.

At the time of the crash, a witness said Wallis was wearing "a black leather PVC mini-skirt, tights, dark shoes with a high heel and a pearl necklace”.

On the morning of Wallis' arrest, police officers found a black mini-skirt and pearl necklace at Wallis' property. They also found a blonde wig and said it looked like the MP was wearing make up.

In court, Wallis told the court he had been wearing "women's clothes" on the evening before the crash. He said: "I was wearing the clothes that I feel most comfortable in, as I often do when I'm in my home, which were women's clothes."

District Judge Tan Ikram dismissed the first charge against Wallis as he said the Crown had not proven the MP was driving without due care and attention when he crashed.

However convicting him of the other three charges, the judge said he felt Wallis made a "conscious choice" not to call 999 and to leave the scene instead.

Judge Ikram said: "I am going to be upfront: I didn't find the defendant credible in the evidence he gave.

"When I watched him give evidence it seemed to me not only was he fitting his own behaviour around the behaviour of PTSD, and his actions on the night do not suggest he was overwhelmed and acting out of fear.

"Having PTSD is not a defence. What the prosecution have proved to me he was able to make decisions that night - he made bad decisions.

"I am sure he was not prevented through PTSD to giving details or particulars and report the accident soon after.

"He made a decision he didn't want to be there and made a decision to ring his father.

"Through all of that period he could have rung 999 or 101 - he didn't. I am sure he didn't through a conscious choice, not through being overwhelmed or acting irrationally."

As well as being disqualified from driving for six months, the MP has been fined £2,500. He will also have to pay additional costs of £620 and a £190 victim surcharge.

The judge calculated the fine based on Wallis’ annual salary of £82,000, working out at £1,500 a week.

The Conservative Party has confirmed it will not be taking further action against Wallis.

A Whips Office spokeswoman said: "Jamie Wallis MP has been found guilty of various offences and it is right that he has been punished.

"We will not be taking any further action and will continue to provide welfare support."