A Swindon judge accused a tipper truck driver of putting two fingers up to the law.

Ashley King, 27, was caught by police having driven the Ford Transit flat bed from his home in east Sussex to Broad Chalke, near Salisbury, on August 8.

The south coast man had been banned from the road for three years in 2018 after being convicted of failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis.

But the self-employed tree surgeon bought the £6,000 truck and registered it in his father’s name.

Defence solicitor Emma Thacker said he was in Wiltshire to pick-up a fridge for his partner and had stayed with a friend.

Appearing before the magistrates’ court via video link from Gablecross police station, King, of Harbour Farm, Winchelsea Beach, pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and breach of a crown court bail condition requiring him to live and sleep at his home in east Sussex.

Ordering he complete 120 hours of unpaid work and banning him from the roads for six months, District Judge Joanna Dickens said: “It’s very clear that when you are disqualified you have to keep to that period of disqualification that’s the law. If you don’t like it you can appeal.

“Whilst it is frustrating for people who want to get on and earn a living - I understand that - you can’t put two fingers up to the law.”

He must pay a £95 victim surcharge and £85 costs.