A TAXI driver drove his friend to the shop while disqualified and has been banned for one year, a court heard.

Richard Coulson, 64, drove a company-owned Vauxhall Zafira without a valid driving license and with no insurance.

The taxi had been parked outside his home because the company "had problems" parking cars at the office.

Coulson, of Devereux Road in Amesbury, decided to use the car to drive his friend three miles to the shops in Larkhill when he was stopped by police.

Officers recognised Coulson as someone who had been disqualified and he admitted at the roadside that he had been driving illegally.

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Coulson appeared in Salisbury Magistrate's Court on Friday, March 10, and the court heard that he had eight and a half weeks left of his six-month totting-up ban.

Bob Scott, defending, said Coulson "took a silly risk", adding: "He was not comfortable working but he did a friend a favour by taking them to the shop.

"The ban will have an effect on his ability to employ himself."

He is due to start the process of a knee replacement on March 24 and Mr Scott said: "In any respect, I don't think he'll be driving any time soon."

Coulson pleaded guilty to the two motoring offences, was ordered to pay £533 and was banned from driving for 12 more months.