Radcliffe plumber in motorbike crash after he 'panicked' upon seeing police in Gotham

A plumber might have to rely on lifts to and from jobs from his partner after losing his driving licence for a year following a crash on a motorbike he was uninsured to drive. Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard how Spencer Clarke broke bones in the incident which saw him mistakenly believe the police were after him.

The hearing was told how, instead, they were looking for two possible thieves, also on motorcycles, when they came across the 28-year-old defendant on a £6,000 Yamaha he had recently bought. He then “panicked”, rode off and crashed it causing the injury.

His solicitor told the court: “What he was actually doing was taking it to some private land to practice and what you can tell from the (court) papers is that there was a completely unrelated incident involving two other motorcyclists and the original police chase was in relation to that.

"They (later) said, ‘Sorry, we did not realise you were not one of the original people we were looking for’, and when he first saw them, he panicked because he did not have a licence or insurance, and he suffered a fractured shoulder and was off work for 10-to-12 weeks.

“He is a self-employed plumber earning £3,000 per month and is doing incredibly well but knows he will lose his licence. His partner sits at the back of the court. She works and also has a business as a dog groomer and she will have to drive him to particular jobs.

“He did not go out on that day to behave in the way he did. He went out to practice on private land, albeit on an uninsured motorbike and ended up caught up with police officers looking for two other people.”

Andrew Conboy, prosecuting, said the offences took place in Nottingham Road, Gotham, on April 7, this year. Clarke, of Hudson Way, Radcliffe-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence, driving without insurance and failing to stop.

Magistrates handed him an 18-month community order, with 200 hours unpaid work and disqualified him from driving for a year. They also ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 victim surcharge.