A painter and decorator has been fined £1,100 after the Transit van he was driving was found to have 23 defects.

Orry Richard Teare, of North View, Peel, was also driving with a licence which had expired in April 2016.

The 49-year-old also had his driving licence endorsed with three penalty points and was ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs.

Magistrates’ chairman Alan Gelling said while passing sentence: ’It is a long time since we have had such a long list of defects in a vehicle before us.’

Teare pleaded guilty to the two offences of having a vehicle in a dangerous condition and having no vehicle licence.

Prosecutor Michael Jelski told the court how, at 10.35am on April 5, police saw Teare driving the van on New Castletown Road in Douglas.

Checks revealed that his vehicle licence had expired and he was followed into the grounds of the National Sports Centre where he stopped.

Three of the four tyres on the van were said to be defective and it was taken to the vehicle test centre in Tromode.

When examined by a vehicle inspector, it was found to have 23 defects, including problems with number plate lights, stop lights, the windscreen, wing mirrors, the footbrake pedal, the parking brake, the brake discs and pipes, the front suspension joint and engine leaks.

When interviewed by police, Teare said of the expired licence: ’I just hadn’t really got around to changing it from one vehicle to another.’

He went on to say that he had not noticed the tyres were defective and didn’t know about the brake defects.

Defending Teare in court his advocate Matthew Wilshaw said: ’Mr Teare is a self-employed painter and decorator. If disqualified it would obviously render it virtually impossible for him to carry out his job.

’Through the summer months he lives in a camper van. It would also render it impossible for him to move his place of abode.

’He had a previous van which broke down and this van was one he owned which hadn’t been on the road for some time.

’He took it to a mechanic who fitted a new clutch, but didn’t raise any other defects, though to be fair Mr Teare didn’t ask him.

’He hadn’t noticed any issues with the brakes but he accepts the vehicle wasn’t in great condition and he is responsible.’

Referring to the vehicle licence Mr Wilshaw said that Teare had taxed his previous vehicle and had intented enquiring about changing the tax to the Transit van but it had ’slipped his mind’.

The advocate added that Teare was living in his camper van in Castletown but used his sister’s address in Peel for correspondence.

He was fined £1,000 for the dangerous vehicle and £100 for the licence offence.