A 59-year-old man who was detected twice in less than a month driving without insurance or a driving licence has been banned from driving for 18 months.

Robert David Alan Patton with an address of Nelson Park, Fivemiletown was stopped twice by police on July 7 and August 1 of this year.

The court heard on the date in July, he was stopped driving a tractor and towing a slurry tanker. He had no driving licence or insurance and it turned out his provisional licence had expired on June 27, 2019 and he was cautioned.

On the same road on the date in August, Patton was stopped by police on the Cooneen Road in Fivemiletown whilst driving a Rover 75 and was asked to produce documentation which he was unable to do. He was told by police officers that he would be reported.

Barrister Ciaran Roddy, defending Patton told the court that that the problem with the expiry of his client's licence was due to Patton was unable to read or write to know it had expired. It was only after he became aware but it was bad in any event.

He said Patton had had no full driving licence since his previous disqualification and there had been difficulty in getting a licence and that disqualification was inevitable and that the defendant had a poor record for road traffic offences although there had been some gap between court appearances.

Mr. Roddy asked District Judge Steven Keown to give his client full credit for his early plea.

In disqualifying Patton, Judge Keown described the two incidents as a "fairly blatant disregard of road traffic laws" and also fined the defendant £850.