A disqualified driver who was found to be driving just outside Harrogate has avoided immediate custody.

Jeremy Wright, 54, appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday (February 19) charged with driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

He admitted both charges on December 11 last year and returned on Thursday for sentence.

Prosecutor Sarah Tyrer said the defendant was banned from driving for six months at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on April 3 last year.

It came after he incurred more than 12 points on licence due to speeding offences.

A police officer was travelling in a marked vehicle around the local area on June 27 last year when a Land Rover Discovery stopped on a road in Ripley.

The officer stopped to speak to the driver - Wright - who said he was lost. 

He was on his way to the Durham area, so Wright and the officer discussed how best to get back on track.

However, police enquiries soon revealed Wright was a disqualified driver, which he confirmed when asked by police.

Ms Tyrer said:

Wright, of St John’s Court in Holmfirth, made a full admission to police.

‘There was a lot of stress at the time’

Wright, who was not legally represented in court, told the magistrates his “business was failing” at the time of the offence.

"There was a lot of stress", he added.

The court heard his company, which “as it turns out failed anyway”, had taken on a new kind of job at the time.

One of Wright's employees had driven a work van to the site. The employee had a few days booked off but needed to take the vehicle with him.

Wright said he "just needed to get the car back up" to the job site to "keep earning money".

A pre-sentence report prepared ahead of the hearing was not read aloud in court.

Wright was handed a 17-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.

He was banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay a total of £239.