Never A Lender Or A Borrower Be

If someone you don’t know asks to take your bike out, don’t be a plum.

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Q As I write this down, I realise that I sound really stupid, but can you help me? I had my GSX-R1000 up for sale. I mentioned this while chatting to some lads who I regularly see at a café which is a regular meeting place for bikes. One of the lads, Steve, who I had seen plenty of times before said he was interested in buying it. He asked to take it for a quick blast. His mates stayed behind, so I was happy enough for him to take it out. He had left his bike and keys with me. His bike was a fairly old Fireblade. I got a bit queasy after 20 minutes, but he came back in, told me he liked the bike and made an offer for it, but it was less than I was willing to accept, so we parted. He bought me a burger and a tea for fuel, and that was the end of that, at least so I thought.

A week later I got a letter from the police demanding to know who the rider of my bike was, as he had been clocked at a pretty lively speed. I told the police that I had lent the bike to a guy that I only knew as Steve. I told them that he had quite an old Fireblade and I believed he lived in Leeds. A few weeks later I got a summons for failing to name the driver. I have checked Google and I am down for six points. I already have three. What can I do?

A If you plead guilty you are going to go down for six points, whatever happens.