A DISQUALIFIED driver who was caught driving a car without the consent of its owner has been banned from driving.

Robin Dawson, of Broadfield in Troutbeck Bridge near Windermere, was stopped by road traffic officers whilst driving a Fiat on the A6 at Skelsmergh on April 30 this year.

Police enquiries revealed Dawson – aged 35 - had taken the vehicle without the owner’s consent and that he had been driving without a valid test certificate or third-party insurance.

Dawson pleaded guilty to the offences at the first opportunity at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court on May 20.

As a result, magistrates sentenced the defendant to a 12-month community order with one requirement of completing 100 hours of unpaid work.

Magistrates disqualified the defendant from driving for 282 days and ordered that he pay £85 in court costs and a £114 surcharge.