OFF-ROAD riders have been warned they can no longer escape the law.

The warning follows a landmark court case in which a quad bike rider was found guilty of driving a 50cc machine while disqualified and uninsured.

Andrew Edward Howe, 19, pleaded not guilty to the offences when he appeared before Peterlee Magistrates this week.

But the court found that Howe, of Thames Road, in Peterlee, was guilty on both charges.

The teenager was spotted in February riding the petrol-driven quad bike along a footpath.

He then travelled on the town's Yoden Road and was stopped by two policemen, including vehicle nuisance officer for the Easington Division, PC Jim Cowell.

The officers charged Howe with the two offences of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

In court, Howe put forward the defence that the bike was not a vehicle classified for road traffic purposes and therefore he should not have been charged with the offences.

But magistrates found him guilty and imposed a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered him to pay court costs to cover the case.

The findings were welcomed by PC Cowell who, together with a team of other officers from the division, had been detailed to stamp out the problem of nuisance riders.

He described the court proceedings as a landmark case and said it gave a very clear warning to people who persisted in riding off-road machines in an anti-social manner that they will not escape the law.

PC Cowell said: "These findings send out a message to people who drive off-road vehicles anti-socially, either on-road or off-road, that it simply won't be tolerated in the Easington Division.''

The officer further warned that, as a result of the court case, there was no longer an escape route in the law for nuisance riders.

"Offenders can no longer hide behind what has until now been seen as a loophole in the law,'' he said.