A PRISON officer has been fined and banned from driving for a year after he tried to avoid a major traffic hold-up by reversing back up a motorway slip road.

Neil MacRae, 45, admitted dangerous driving after he was caught on camera trying to get away from a stationary line of traffic which had built up on the M606 in Bradford following a road accident.

MacRae is the third motorist to be sentenced for his driving that day and Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday (THURS) that two off-duty police officers from Huddersfield are also facing similar charges.

Judge Christopher Batty was shown DVD footage of the traffic hold-up in June last year and MacRae’s Mazda could be seen reversing partly down the nearside lane and along the hard shoulder before a police officer approached his car.

Judge Batty described MacRae’s actions as "stupid" because someone else could have been driving along at speed and may not have seen his car in time.

"'It was impatience on your part and irritation at being confronted by a traffic jam," added the judge.

MacRae, of Leeds, who had no previous convictions and a clean driving licence, was fined £300 and banned from driving for 12 months. He will also have to pay costs of £375 and must take an extended driving test at the end of his ban.

The court heard that two other motorists had been fined and banned at Huddersfield Magistrates Court for similar offences that day.

And earlier this week the two Huddersfield police officers had their dangerous driving cases adjourned again.

Sergeants Andrew Watson, from Linthwaite, and John Shelton Newsham, from Ainley Top, are alleged to have reversed their vehicles down the M606 near its junction with the M62 at Chain Bar.

Both pleaded not guilty.

The two officers had appeared at Dewsbury Magistrates Court to face trial, but the magistrates adjourned the case to January 6 after the prosecution said there were still legal arguments to be resolved.