Disqualified driver Max Langdale has ban extended after caught driving on the A10 at Downham Market

A disqualified driver’s ban has been extended after he decided to get back behind the wheel to drive home from the coast.

Max Langdale, 19, appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to be sentenced for the offence of driving while disqualified, as well as driving while uninsured.

The court previously heard Langdale’s guilty pleas at a hearing in July, but magistrates then opted for a pre-sentence report to be carried out, meaning Langdale was at risk of going to prison.

However, he was given an extra six months added onto his driving disqualification instead as well as a community order.

Prosecutor Sally Harris said that on May 4, Langdale was stopped by police on the A10 in Downham by police who had realised that he was a disqualified driver.

He was banned from driving in December 2022 for drug-driving.

In mitigation, George Sorrell said that Langdale was driving back from Hunstanton and could not get someone to drive him back to his home on Musker Place, Papworth Everard in Cambridgeshire.

“Give him the opportunity to learn something, he was in a dilemma,” said Mr Sorrell.

Mr Sorrell urged magistrates not to send Langdale to prison, and added that the defendant had ambitions to get an electrician apprenticeship.

Langdale was given a 24-month community order, with orders to complete 10 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He will also pay a victim surcharge of £114 and court costs of £105.