Banned Kirby driver caught for 11th time faced with jail

Bryan Fell was spotted by police at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta on Northern Bridge Road, in Sutton, and was followed to the Asda service station, on November 13, last year.

“Checks revealed he had a provisional licence but was disqualified until he passed a test,” said prosecutor Robert Carr.

Chris Lacey, mitigating, said Fell was practising for the driving test and had a qualified driver in the passenger seat, who was dropped off before the police arrived.

He drove a short distance with his girlfriend in the back seat, who is not qualified, Mr Lacey added, but he was correctly displaying ‘L’ plates.

“It was his ignorance in thinking that once he was on the Asda car park he was fine, and could drive the car on his own,” he said.

“It would be ridiculous to argue it doesn’t pass the custody threshold. I had to explain to him that he was guilty.

“His past comes back to haunt him. If any police officer sees him in the front seat of a car, their first throught will be “Bryan Fell, disqualified”. And it would be hard to criticise them.”

Probation officer Cheryl Nisbet said if Fell was sent to prison, there would potentially be no one to look after his two children, as his other family members were ill or in hospital.

She said: “He knows he put his family in this position and can’t blame anyone else.”

Fell, 31, of Rutland Drive, admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

Magistrates told Fell he was being sentenced on his version of events, before giving him eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

He was given five rehabilitation activity requirement days and told to attend a thinking skills programme. He must pay a £115 government surcharge and £85 costs.

He was banned for nine months.