A MAN caught driving an unregistered car was seen to be inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon by police officers who pulled him over.

Prosecutor Fen Greatly-Hirsch told Bradford Crown Court that Hassan Shaukat was twice disqualified when he was seen driving an Audi S3 on Fagley Road at around 9pm on February 26 this year.

The police car signalled for him to stop and pulled up alongside him, where he was seen inhaling the nitrous oxide.

He set off driving again and failed to stop for some time before eventually doing so on Whitehead Place.

During an interview under caution Shaukat, 24, of Killinghall Road, Bradford, fully admitted being disqualified and having no insurance to drive. He said he was driving home in the car, which had no registered keeper, after visiting nearby shops.

The court heard that Shaukat received a suspended prison sentence last September for conspiracy to supply Class B controlled drugs and had previously been convicted of drug-driving on two occasions.

Mitigating, Bashir Ahmed said Shaukat was an intelligent man who had made “a stupid mistake and had let himself down”. He said he was remorseful and contrite.

Mr Recorder Abdul Iqbal KC said he would defer sentencing until August 16 and give Shaukat the opportunity to show he could keep out of trouble.

He said: “To say that he’s contrite and realises that he made a mistake is a difficult submission to accept when he’s made so many mistakes over such a short period of time, many of which involved driving cars in very unusual circumstances.

“The question for me is why it is unjust for an intelligent and articulate man who has a history of driving vehicles unlawfully to activate some or all of the [suspended] sentence?”

He told Shaukat he was prepared to give him a chance to comply with all the requirements of an existing order over the next three months and remain offending-free.

He added: “If your performance is not good or you commit further offences then you should expect some or all of this order to be activated. All sentencing options remain open, including an immediate prison sentence.”

He imposed an interim disqualification and warned Shaukat not to get behind the wheel in the coming months.