Timothy Shovlin

Timothy / Tara Shovlin, a male who identifies as a trans woman, appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court in May 2016 accused of a string of motoring offences, including dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen of breath, failing to stop, and having two defective tyres and an insufficiently effective handbrake. A driving ban was imposed as a bail condition during the private hearing.

In a “highly unusual application” Shovlin, 35, petitioned the court in June 2016 to lift the bail conditions to allow him to get back behind the wheel. His solicitor told the private bail hearing he had been “subject to ridicule” on public transport. Sheriff Livingston rejected the application, saying there had been “no material change in circumstance” since the conditions were imposed, as Shovlin had been cross dressing since the start of the year.

Shovlin commented that “Surely it’s my human right to travel without being ridiculed. I am waiting for gender re-assignment at the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow, but who knows how long it will be before I get it, because it’s the NHS.”

Photo credit: The Central Scotland News Agency

Media Reports:

Herald Scotland http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14539145.Transitioning_transsexual_who_says__people_laugh_at_him  archive

Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/transsexual-tries-fight-driving-ban-8126431

Daily Express https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/677381/Transitioning-transsexual-Timothy-Shovlin-driving-ban-lift