A MAN was stopped by police after the Ford Transit tipper lorry he was driving was overloaded with scrap metal.

But when officers checked Patrick Boswell's details they realised he was a banned driver who had no insurance.

Anna Bond, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court how police stopped the lorry on Manchester Road, Bolton, at 1pm on February 21.

Boswell, aged 26, of Little Lane, Goose Green, Wigan, was already subject to two suspended prison sentences — one for causing actual bodily harm to a member of staff in a Wigan nightclub and another for dangerous driving and theft, for which he also received a driving ban.

Kevin Liston, defending, stressed that, when stopped by police for driving the scrap metal lorry, he had not tried to conceal his identity and admitted driving while banned and having no insurance. He added that the father-of-three is from the traveller community and at the time, his grandfather was ill with Covid and his father was also unwell.

"He was under pressure and he succumbed," said Mr Liston.

Judge Graeme Smith sentenced Boswell to a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and was banned from driving for 14 months.