A MAN alleged to have driven a van while disqualified has denied he was behind the wheel when it was stopped by police.

Darren Roxby has also denied trying to pervert the course of justice by giving another man’s name when asked for his details by an officer.

Appearing at a Durham Crown Court plea hearing, the 35-year-old defendant denied driving a Ford Transit van while disqualified, in Rockwell Court, Bishop Auckland, on January 22, this year.

He also pleaded not guilty to a charge of doing an act tending or intended to pervert the course of justice, in providing false details to police that day.

Asked by Judge James Adkin about the evidence as to who was driving, Paul Cross, prosecuting, said the man whose details were given to the officer contacted police to say he was not behind the wheel that day.

Mr Cross told the court the named man did not look like the driver seen by police and also said he was at work at the time he was said to have driven the van.

He is also said to have claimed in a witness statement that this is not the first time this had happened to him.

The case was adjourned for trial and the defendant, of The Poplars, Easington Lane, was bailed to return for the hearing, in the week of Monday January 4, 2021.