A DRIVER has been given a suspended prison sentence – after he was spotted towing a 40ft-long mobile home with a Land Rover along the M62 near Huddersfield.
David Smith, 38, from Accrington, was said to have been taking the American-style caravan from Castleford to Sowerby Bridge or Burnley when he was seen near to junction 25 at Clifton.
Concerned police officers were able to speak to Smith after he pulled on to the hard shoulder when his Land Rover developed an electrical problem.
Prosecutor James Bourne-Arton told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that the police decided that the Land Rover was not a suitable vehicle to be towing the mobile home, due to the size and weight of the caravan.
Smith, who had no previous convictions, was charged with dangerous driving following the incident in February last year and a jury found him guilty of the offence after a trial.
Before being sentenced by Judge John Potter yesterday, Smith claimed that the jury had been biased and he had been badly let down by the judicial system.
But Judge Potter noted that there was no proper braking mechanism being used by Smith at the time when he was towing the mobile home and it was not surprising that one officer described the set up as “the worst combination he had seen being driven on the public highway”.
The judge said had Smith's journey continued he would have driven down a stretch of road known as the Elland bypass where there was a significant danger of vehicles jack-knifing.
The judge decided that Smith’s nine-month prison sentence could be suspended for 18 months but he will have to do 250 hours unpaid work for the community and pay costs of £2,000. Smith was also banned from driving for two years and ordered to take an extended driving test at the end of the disqualification.
