A MOTORIST drove a recovery vehicle without lights for miles along the A1(M) and M1 in the dark, a court has heard.

Police had great difficulty seeing Nasir Ali’s vehicle when they were alerted to its presence on the A168 at Thirsk at 1.15am on December 14, said Martin Butterworth, prosecuting.

York Magistrates' Court heard police took it off the road and served Ali, from Great Sankey, with a prohibition notice preventing him from driving it again until its lights were properly working. They also warned him that if he did so, he would be driving dangerously.

But at 4.20am the same morning, a member of the public saw Ali driving the same vehicle without lights near junction 47 on the M1 near Garforth and alerted police.

“Again it was very difficult to see. It is a predominantly unlit stretch of motorway,” said Mr Butterworth.

Ali, 25, initially denied dangerous driving and breaching a prohibition notice. When he skipped bail and did not attend his trial before York magistrates, he was convicted in his absence and later arrested on a warrant.

Magistrates heard Ali, of Yates Close, Great Sankey, had been banned from driving in 2016 under the totting-up procedure and, since getting his licence back, had been given nine more penalty points for three more motoring offences.

They banned him from driving for 12 months, ordered him to take an extended driving test before driving alone again and ordered him to do 100 hours’ unpaid work and pay a total of £705 including £620 prosecution costs and an £85 statutory surcharge.

For him, Shahid Ali said: “He has done something very stupid and he has not realised the ramifications.”

The 25-year-old would lose his job, said the defence solicitor, who gave no explanation for the defendant’s non-attendance at his trial.