Mark Stephen Cartwright, 46, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, when he appeared before Bridlington magistrates last Friday.

He was also given six penalty points and a £200 fine for driving without insurance, having pleaded guilty to both charges at an earlier hearing.

The bench also ordered him to pay £43 costs plus a £15 victim surcharge.

The court heard that police had followed and stopped a blue Mercedes van on the A614 Driffield bypass, under the Spellowgate bridge, on March 24 this year.

Carl Codd, prosecuting, said Cartwright had initially given incorrect information to the officers and was only identified by tattooes which were matched to him on the police computer.

But he fully admitted the offences when he was later interviewed.

The bench was also told that Cartwright, of Redhill Road, Castleford, had two previous convictions for driving while disqualified, the most recent of which was before Doncaster magistrates in January this year.

And Richard North, mitigating, said the circumstances of the most recent cases were similar.

He told the bench that Cartwright had arranged for an employee to take some goods to Skirlington market where he had agreed to sell them to customers. But the employee did not arrive to make the trip on the morning of the incident.

Although he admitted that his client did have some difficulties exercising self-control, Mr North said Cartwright had only taken the ‘very undesirable decision to drive’ out of desperation to ensure that he met his business commitment.

“He is not a person who has gone deliberately on a jaunt”, he said.

But presiding magistrate Lord Halifax told Cartwright: “We consider these offences justify a suspended prison sentence, because of your total disregard for court orders and that this is your second offence of driving while disqualified in three months.”

As he left court, Cartwright told magistrates: “Thanks for being so lenient.”