AN ambulance driver was charged with wasting police time after he called 999 to say he had been run down by a JCB, a court heard.

Darlington magistrates heard yesterday that an air ambulance, two police cars, two fire engines, and a road ambulance were sent to Norton Fine Farm, at High Etherley, Bishop Auckland, expecting to find a man trapped under a JCB.

The court was told that they found Ryan Gilbey, 30, apparently unharmed, walking towards them holding his video camcorder. Hari Jandoo, prosecuting, said Mr Gilbey intentionally walked into the JCB to get neighbour Glenn Cook into trouble.

Mr Jandoo said: "This was a deliberate ploy to set up Mr Cook. The best evidence is the camcorder footage as it shows no assault took place.

"He has certainly wasted police time when resources could have been deployed elsewhere."

The clash between the two families erupted on March 11 when Mr Cook dug up chippings Mr Gilbey and his two brothers had just laid on the access road between them with a tractor.

Mr Jandoo said Mr Gilbey, who denies wasting police time, walked into the bucket of the farm vehicle while dialling 999.

Mr Gilbey said he had been run over by a JCB and asked for the police to attend, but did not ask for an ambulance, that had been sent, to be cancelled, the court heard.

Acting Sergeant Nicola Voke-Williams, who was the first officer on the scene, said the police control centre received a call to say someone had been run over and was trapped under a JCB.

She said: "I was expecting to see somebody in quite a bad state. I was expecting some screaming or somebody to be around an injured person.

"But Mr Gilbey was standing fit and well. He clearly had no injuries and was not in distress at that point. He seemed very calm."

Sgt Voke-Williams said that when she realised there was no emergency, she cancelled the air ambulance, which was six minutes away from the scene.

Mr Gilbey, of Railway Cottages, Etherley Bank, High Etherley, recorded footage of the tractor digging up the freshly-laid chippings, colliding with the tractor and the emergency vehicles arriving on his camcorder.

PC Paul Rogers said that although Mr Cook was arrested for assaulting Mr Gilbey, charges were dropped by police after they studied the video footage. He said: "We thought the incident had been staged by Mr Gilbey."

The case continues.