LESS than four months after being banned from the road for drink-driving, Nuno Alexandre decided to ignore the court order and take his girlfriend out to the pub for the night. He used his mother s car, and later told police the trip was not the first ti

LESS than four months after being banned from the road for drink-driving, Nuno Alexandre decided to ignore the court order and take his girlfriend out to the pub for the night.

He used his mother's car, and later told police the trip was not the first time he had driven since the ban was imposed.

At an earlier court hearing, Ely magistrates had warned Alexandre he could be jailed for driving while disqualified. But this week they decided against that, and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work as part of an 18-month supervision order. The court also extended his driving ban by four months and ordered him to pay £50 costs.

"It was 12.20am on October 10 when a police officer saw Alexandre driving at speed along Soham High Street," said Matthew Bradbury, prosecuting. A check with the police national computer revealed that he was a banned driver, being disqualified for 12 months on July 19.

Mitigating, solicitor Michael Judkins explained: "He had a relationship with a young lady. He wanted to cement that, and thought that if he took her out, that would assist.