A 51-year-old Peel man has been sentenced to community service after admitting driving while disqualified.

Paul David McCurrie, of Circular Road, must do 40 hours of unpaid work and also had his licence endorsed with six penalty points.

No separate penalty was made for a second offence of driving without insurance.

Prosecutor Rachael Braidwood told the court how, on January 20 at 2am, police saw McCurrie driving a Peugeot 206 as it exited Ballafletcher Farm Road, in Douglas.

Checks revealed he only held a provisional licence but was displaying no ’L’ plates and had no supervising driver.

He was subsequently stopped by officers and admitted he only held a provisional licence.

In a police interview McCurrie said: ’I knew I was doing wrong but I took a chance.’

The court heard that he had been banned from driving 12 years ago for dangerous driving with an order to retake his test but had failed to do so.

A probation report said that community service could be difficult as McCurrie worked complicated shifts at the Isle of Man Creamery.

Defence advocate David Clegg said: ’Mr McCurrie had no idea he wasn’t insured. The fact he hadn’t taken and passed the test invalidated the insurance.’

Mr Clegg went on to say that his client usually got a lift to work but wasn’t able to on the day in question so had taken a chance and driven.

’He knows it was a stupid decision to make,’ said the advocate.

Chair of the magistrates Lisa Horton said while passing sentence: ’Driving whilst disqualified usually attracts a custodial sentence or community service.

’We do not believe a financial penalty is appropriate.

’Having said that we recognise the difficulties and will reduce the number of hours.’

He must also pay £50 costs.