Driver stopped by police in Telford is surprised to learn he's been banned for months
A man who was stopped by police while driving in Telford was surprised when they told him he had actually been banned from the roads a month earlier.
When he was approached by police in January, Antony McDonald, 60, was oblivious to the driving ban that had been imposed on him at court in his absence weeks earlier.
West Mercia Police officers on patrol in Donnington on January 28 had spotted McDonald's Mercedes in The Parade and on completing checks found that it had no insurance.
They pulled him over and upon further checks found that he had actually been banned from driving on December 16, in a court hearing that he claimed he had not been aware of.
The six-month ban was imposed because McDonald had totted up 12 penalty points, prosecutor Mr Brandon Cole told Telford Magistrates Court in a hearing on Wednesday. It is due to expire next month.
McDonald, of Hailes Park Close in Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and driving while disqualified.
Defending solicitor Clare Stephens told magistrates: "He simply wasn't aware of the disqualification. He never received any correspondence... at any address he held."
Magistrates did not extend McDonald's driving ban but for driving while disqualified and without insurance they fined him £120.
Chair of the bench Ashley Clayton also said McDonald would have six penalty points added to his licence, which would be endorsed.