A TYRE fitter was caught driving on a bald tyre.

Learner driver Marco Rodrigues, 22, who was stopped by police in Lincolnshire and Swindon, was fined £1,300 and banned from the roads for a year after he admitted driving without a licence or insurance, drink driving, driving on bald tyres and failing to appear before the court.

Swindon Magistrates’ Court heard that police in Stamford, Lincolnshire, stopped a hired BMW in West Street just before midnight on September 19 last year. He initially gave false details before admitting his mistake. He was not insured to drive the car and only had a provisional licence.

On February 11, a police officer spotted Rodrigues’ VW Polo on Drakes Way. Noticing it had a busted back light, she pulled the car over then breathalysed the driver after she smelled alcohol on his breath. The tread on the front offside wheel’s tyre was worn down to 0.5mm.

Rodrigues, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Park South, admitted a number of driving offences. He had no previous convictions.

Mark Glendenning, mitigating, said: “Somewhat embarrassingly, he’s a tyre fitter by profession and, clearly, one of the tyres was below the legal limit.” The VW belonged to a friend.

Magistrates fined him £1,300 and ordered he pay £85 costs and a £130 victim surcharge. He was banned from driving for a year.