A Bolton man has been penalised for falsely suggesting he was a police officer.

Talha Shahzad used flashing lights to pull over a vehicle and presented what appeared to be a warrant card to the occupant, who was a female police officer.

He did this to falsely suggest he was a special constable or a member of a police force.

The offence took place in January this year in Bolton.

Shahzad admitted the offence at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court.

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Following his the 23-year-old was given a sentence of 16 weeks suspended for two years.

The reasons given were that there was pre-planning and a lone female police officer was stopped in the early hours of the morning.

He was ordered to do a 35 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and was banned from driving for 12 months.