A DISQUALIFIED driver caught behind the wheel of a Range Rover in Greenock while two-thirds of the way through a ban has been placed on an electronic tagging order.

A sheriff decided not to send Anthony Mitchell to jail despite condemning the 30-year-old’s ‘flagrant’ breach of a court order.

Mitchell, whose address was listed in court papers as Lomond Road in Wemyss Bay, was eight months into a one-year disqualification when police spotted him driving the vehicle on May 4 this year.

Procurator fiscal depute Pamela Brady told a sentencing hearing last week that police officers in a marked car on Wellington Street saw Mitchell driving the Range Rover and had intelligence that he was disqualified.

The officers pursued the vehicle, with the prosecutor adding: “The vehicle drove off and out of sight and police continued trying to track it and the accused.”

Mitchell was eventually traced later that evening before being cautioned and charged.

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He spent the weekend in police custody before appearing at Greenock Sheriff Court on May 6.

Mrs Brady told the court that Mitchell was disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence for 12 months on September 14 last year at Paisley Sheriff Court.

He pleaded guilty to two charges, including driving without insurance, at a previous court hearing but was cleared of a further allegation that he took and drove away the vehicle from a flat on Wellington Street without the owner’s consent or lawful authority.

Defence solicitor Michael McKeown said his client had a ‘limited record’ and the offence ‘seems out of character’.

Sheriff Sean Lynch said Mitchell’s explanation – outlined in a background report – was ‘not a very good’ one.

Mr McKeown said: “Clearly, he should’ve made other arrangements. His position was one of panic.

“He is assessed as being a low risk of reoffending. He was eight months through a one-year ban.

“He was the author of his own misfortune.”

Sheriff Lynch described the offences as a ‘flagrant breach of an order of the court’.

Mitchell will be supervised by the criminal justice social work department for 14 weeks and a night-time curfew was also imposed as a direct alternative to custody.