A man who blogged about covering the 837 miles between John O’Groats and Land’s End has been cleared in court after claiming that he ‘exaggerated’ his feats.
Thomas Davies was in Truro Crown Court this week, more than three years after the trip from the north of Scotland to the south west tip of England took place. The 29-year-old had claimed on a blog three years ago that he had completed the journey in just nine-and-half hours, and won fame after filming the journey before posting to his website six months after completing the attempt.
Davies grabbed headlines in national newspapers and appeared on BBC Radio Two after boasting about the so-called record attempt for a journey that usually take 15 hours in a car.
But after being charged with two counts of dangerous driving, and two counts of perverting the course of justice, for the drive in September, Davies tod the court that the Audi car the attempt was made in was not his, he was not driving and the trip was completed in 12 hours.
"The blog is a story, it's an exaggeration of a trip that happened between John O'Groats and Land's End," Davies said as he defender himself in court.
"This trip did happen, but not how this blog describes it and not how this prosecution has brought this case.
"The prosecution are wedded to this notion this blog is right, the police are wedded to the notion this blog was a detailed description of what happened, it was accurate and they built their case around the blog.
"I understand I have done some stupid things, that is obvious.
"I am not the same man I was three years ago and if I could go back and do things differently I would, not in a way of covering my tracks because it's just stupid."
The prosecution alleged that Davies had used two transponders to detect speed cameras and also had fake Irish number plates on his car.