A bodyguard crashed his boss's uninsured £1 MILLION supercar as he drove it back from an MOT.
Andy Danso, 43, lost control of the ultra-rare Pagani Zonda and ploughed it into a fence causing “thousands” of pounds of damage.
An "embarassed" Danso initially said he had been swerving to avoid a 'silver car' but CCTV evidence blew a hole in his cover-up tale.
After being rumbled, Danso said he was altering his seat position as the car revved through an industrial estate near Wembley, north west London, but was too "embarrassed" to tell officers.
He was charged with driving without due care and attention, driving without the correct insurance and using forged insurance details following the incident.
Danso, appearing at Willesden Magistrates’ Court yesterday, said: “I just lifted the lever up and went to push it back.
“It was stiff to start off with so I pushed a bit harder and my foot slipped forward on the right hand side of the accelerator and pushed it down.
“At that point the car accelerated and the back of the car pulled to the left.”
CCTV footage from the crash in February showed the back end of the car slither out, with Danso ploughing the Zonda into a fence on the opposite side of the road.
The prosecutor accused him of driving at “some speed” but Danso denied it and no evidence was presented to argue he exceeded the 30mph limit.
District judge Denis Brennan said: “You were driving a high-performance vehicle with a top speed of 214mph that you had taken for an MOT.
“Finding the seat was uncomfortable, because you were too close to the steering wheel, you continued on the journey.
“Whereas a reasonable and prudent driver would have pulled over you didn’t and as far as that there was an accident.
“Therefore I find you guilty.”
He was convicted of driving the car without due care and attention or the correct insurance to cover the damage.
The bodyguard, who normally drives a BMW or Renault, had been working for Chinese businessman Jen-Te Chen, also known as Kenny, for four years.
Police told Danso to provide a car insurance certificate, which he did but senior claims investigator Graham Ahkin for insurance company Chubb showed it was a forgery.
The prosecutor said: “You are saying your employer who is a successful business man emailed you a forged insurance document.”
Danso replied: “Yeah, 100 per cent. I think if he had turned up he would be incriminating himself.”
Judge Brennan found Danso not guilty of forging an insurance document with intent to deceive as it had been handed to the defendant by Chen.
He said: “I don’t believe you sent on that document knowing it to be a forgery to the police.
“I think you had no knowledge whatsoever that document was a forgery.
“Withstanding the lies you told to the police I think you have told me the truth and you didn’t know it was a forged document. I find you not guilty.”
In mitigation, Richard Davies said: “He’s a man of good character.”
Danso, from Slough, was handed nine points on his licence, fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £400 costs. He kept his job with the wealthy Chinese businessman.
Incredibly, it was the second major crash involving the Zonda, which is regarded as one of the world’s most desirable supercars.
It was bought new for around £340,000 in 2003 by Scottish oil tycoon Gareth Jones.
And in 2009 he let a “world famous racing driver” take the lively Pagani for a drive in Aberdeenshire, with the champion crashing it into an electricity pole.
F1 legend Jackie Stewart was forced to deny local rumours he was behind the wheel of the car at the time, with the identity of the driver never officially revealed.
After the crash - the most expensive in Aviva’s history - the Zonda was sent back to Pagani’s headquarters in Italy where it was given a complete overhaul at a cost of £261,000.
The car was renamed the GJ, after its owner and later sold to Chen by Amian Cars.