A disqualified driver drove with no insurance in a car that was “unfit to be on the road”.
Michael Hood was banned from the roads until May 8 of this year, but on September 27 last year, police stopped his uninsured car on Station Road in Beauly.
When they pulled him over they discovered his ban, as well as noticing that one of the tyres on his car was so bald that the ply or cord was exposed.
Hood, 27, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit driving whilst disqualified, with no insurance and with an overly worn tyre.
PNC check flagged no insurance
Fiscal depute Shay Treanor told the court that officers had spotted Hood’s vehicle on the Beauly section of the A862 and a check of the police national computer indicated that it had no insurance.
They stopped the vehicle and further checks showed Hood to be a disqualified driver.
The fiscal depute said: “The tyres were of such a standard that gave rise to charge three.”
Solicitor Donna Sievewright, for Hood, told the court that on the day in question her client had bought a car with a view to “fixing it up for when his disqualification ended”.
‘An error of judgement’
She said: “He purchased the car in Inverness and, in a serious error of judgement, was driving the car to see how it drove.”
Ms Sievewright explained that her client had been in a low place following a relationship breakdown and the loss of his job – meaning that the car was “something to focus on”.
She reiterated: “The decision to drive was a serious error of judgement.
Sheriff David Harvie told Hood: “Your disqualification was due to end in less than two weeks time – but here you were in the middle of September driving around in a car that is unfit to be on the road, with no insurance, with a view to doing it up for seven months later?”
He disqualified Hood, of St Valery Avenue, Inverness, from driving for 18 months and fined him £520.