A 76-year-old man has been fined £650 by magistrates for driving with no insurance and using a mobile phone while driving.

David Peter Harrison, of Head Road, Douglas, admitted the offences and also had his licence endorsed with five penalty points.

The court heard how, October 2, police conducting traffic duties outside St Mary’s school saw Harrison driving a Mercedes holding a phone to his ear.

He was stopped and asked to produce his documents at a police station.

However, on October 13, when he did, his insurance was found to have only been taken out shortly after he had been stopped by the police.

Defending Harrison in court, his advocate Stephen Wood said that his client had been helping a pregnant neighbour, who suffers from anxiety, by picking up her child from school.

Mr Wood said that Harrison had briefly answered his phone when the woman had called him.

The advocate said: ’He said his honest belief was that he could go and pick up her daughter and arrange insurance afterwards. He believed the insurance would be valid from that day and he’d be covered. The insurance was not as a result of being caught by the police. This is his first appearance before a court.’

Harrison was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs.