A DISQUALIFIED driver has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being caught taking his mother’s sick dog to the vets in his Audi.

Darren Wilson, 34, of Longfield Road, Darlington, admitted a charge of driving while disqualified, and one charge of driving with no insurance, when he appeared before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe this week.

The court heard that the defendant had a history of driving offences.

John Garside, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was stop checked by the police at about 11am one morning.

“He was interviewed by the police.

“He confirmed he had been stopped by police driving a blue Audi A4 motor vehicle.

“He was asked how long he had owned the vehicle and he said three or four months.

“He said he needed to take the dog to the vet as it was not very well.

“Mr Wilson was last before the court in September last year for drug driving and driving while disqualified. He was given a three-year disqualification and a community order.”

Wilson’s solicitor Lisa Carney said he had been arrested and taken into custody after being caught by police.

She said: “What Mr Wilson told me is that on the day in question he had a knock on the door from his mother.

“He had been up all night with his ten-month old child and then he was seeing his mother crying, upset and with no other means of transport, as she couldn’t afford a taxi.

“He took her to the vets. He tells me that in fact he was pulled over by the police when he was on his way home.

“He tells the police he has had the vehicle for three months.

“He had it to sell on, as an investment. He wasn’t driving the vehicle, or any vehicle, while he was disqualified.”

Mrs Carney said he and his partner had a child together and his partner had told him that the relationship would be over if he received a prison sentence.

She also said that police officers had not mentioned that Wilson had been pulled over for any erratic or impaired driving and that it had seemed to be a random stop.

A probation report suggested that Wilson had some issues around cannabis abuse.

An officer said: “He is banned from driving, so why on earth he has a car, I don’t know.”

Magistrates imposed an eight week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and warned him he would go to prison if he drove at all.

He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £115 as well as £85 toward the cost of the court hearing.