A BANNED driver was caught behind the wheel after failing to put on his seatbelt.
Nathan Michael Dennis William Boucher admitted driving while disqualified, without a seatbelt, and with an obscured windscreen when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.
Police were on duty in an unmarked car at 8.50am on June 4 when they spotted Boucher behind the wheel of a Ford Transit van on Belmont Road.
Boucher was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt and admitted to officers that he was a disqualified driver, while a large crack was also noted running from the passenger side to the driver's side of the van's windscreen.
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The court heard Boucher had been banned from the roads for five years after he was caught drink-driving and driving without insurance in 2018.
Chris Read, for Boucher, said the 32-year-old roofer had been given a lift to a job site in Hereford by his employer that morning.
"His employer then left, leaving him in charge," Mr Read said.
"They had reached a stage where they needed some urgent items to carry on with the job and usually his employer would do this but he had left the site and could not be contacted, so he was in a position where work had come to a halt and decided he would drive five minutes down the road to the local DIY shop.
"Police stopped him because he was not wearing a seatbelt and because of the windscreen, but it was not his van."
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Mr Read said while Boucher had a number of previous convictions, he was surprised he had been handed such a lengthy ban in 2018 as he had no similar convictions within the 10 years prior to his ban.
"He has made some substantial changes to his lifestyle," he said.
"He has settled down, does not associate with the people he once did, is in steady work, and has a partner. His work is of a nature whereby they travel to jobs across the midlands and he works at least five days a week, sometimes more."
Boucher, of Bathurst Road, Gloucester, was disqualified from driving for six months and fined £550. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £55 victim surcharge.
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