Former Leeds Rhinos head coach and Harrogate resident Brian McDermott has escaped a driving ban after arguing he needs his car to scout players.

McDermott, 52, of Knox Mill Close, was in York Magistrates Court yesterday after being caught driving his BMW above the 60mph speed limit on the A59 close to Bolton Abbey last year.

The coach, who also represented England and Great Britain during his playing career, pleaded guilty but asked the court to waive the three points as it would take him to 12 points and an automatic ban.

In a submission to the court, Mr McDermott said he unexpectedly found himself out of work for 18 months after his previous club Toronto Wolfpack went out of business due to covid in March 2020.

During this time he had been living from savings, which were now close to running out.

In October 2021, he took a job as head coach at Featherstone Rovers who play in the second-tier of the sport.

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McDermott said he drives over 40,000 miles a year for the role, which involves work in the community, travelling to amateur clubs and scouting players.

He said he was the only person at Featherstone able to watch players from other clubs.

Without the car, he said he could potentially lose his job, which would mean he’d struggle to pay child support and rent.

Special reasons

Magistrates said they were satisfied that Mr McDermott had ‘special reasons’ for contesting the penalty points. 

However, they said the reasons given were not appropriate “in all of the circumstances” so they issued the three penalty points, taking him to 12 overall, but allowed him to continue driving.

He was also fined £307 and asked to pay a victim’s surcharge of £34 and costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Former Leeds Rhinos and New Zealand rugby league international Gary Mercer has joined Harrogate Rugby Club as defence coach.

Mercer, who played rugby league before switching to union as a coach, will join the club alongside newly appointed director of rugby Martyn Wood, who was capped by England.

The former Rhinos captain made more than 150 appearances for Leeds and represented his country 21 times.

Mercer said:

“I’m very much looking forward to taking on the new role of defence coach with the Aces. 

“I am very confident about the team’s future. An excellent plan has been put in place and things are certainly happening at the club.” 

During his career, Mercer also played for Bradford, Warrington and Halifax at rugby league.

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He had a spell as coach at Halifax before switching codes to union where he went on to coach Yorkshire Carnegie, Glasgow Warriors and Biggar in Scotland.

Mercer will continue his role as head of rugby and tutor at Ashville College while coaching at Harrogate.

Martyn Wood said:

“Gary Mercer has incredible experience in both codes at club and international level, and we will be drawing upon his knowledge to produce the required step-change in our defence. 

“Having Gary join us will add a new range of skills to our coaching set-up. Working alongside our existing head coach Sam Fox, we are expecting great things.”