Driving ban for quad bike film MP

Nicholas Soames was filmed following a hunt in West Sussex

A Sussex MP has been given a two-month driving ban for riding a quad bike on a public road with no insurance.

Conservative Mid-Sussex MP Nicholas Soames, 60, pleaded guilty to the charge at Crawley Magistrates' Court.

He was filmed by hunt monitors driving the bike as he followed a hunt on 3 January in Slaugham, West Sussex.

The footage showed three children being driven with no crash helmets. Defending Mr Soames, Tim Hayden said his client apologised for the lack of insurance.

'Cautious and careful'

The court was told by prosecutor Nigel Pilkington that a charge of using a vehicle in a dangerous condition has been withdrawn.

He said the quad bike had been driven on private land and then briefly on a public highway to cross from one field to another.

Mr Pilkington said: "Mr Soames accepts that as can be seen in the video, he was carrying a number of people in the vehicle and in the trailer, all of whom were unrestrained and all of whom were standing up.

"Had any injury occurred to his party, or any others there would have been no insurance in place to compensate the parties."

Nicholas Soames has represented Mid Sussex since 1997

Mr Hayden said his client accepted there was a short period when he drove the vehicle on the public highway but was "cautious and careful".

He said images from the footage were passed to the media and he asked the court to consider that it was done to embarrass Mr Soames.

The court was told the defendant had three previous endorsements on his licence, all fixed penalties, one of which was out of date, but had not been at the time of the incident.

Mr Soames told the court the two-month disqualification would not affect his work at Westminster but would in covering his Mid-Sussex constituency.

"It would be very difficult to deal with my constituency in the way that it has come to be expected of me," he said.

Mr Hayden said the ban would particularly affect his client's efforts to safeguard services at his local hospital, the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath.