A DRIVER was threatened with violence if he did not take his friends home after a Friday night out, a court heard yesterday.

Because he had not drunk alcohol all evening, Richard Kay was the only one of the group who was sober.

Under pressure, he got behind the wheel of a strange car for the journey from Knaresborough to Ripon,

Harrogate magistrates heard how police became involved when he stalled the car on Ripon's bypass, and had difficulty getting it going again.

Prosecutor Caroline Midgley told the court that Kay, 19, gave the police a false name, that of one of the car's passengers.

It turned out that Kay, of Newby Crescent, Harrogate, was serving a six-month ban.

He admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance, and was ordered to do 90 hours of community service work and pay £70 costs.

Magistrates also banned him from the road for six months.

His solicitor, Geoffrey Rogers, said Kay believed if he had not driven, it would have led to violence