A man was ejected from court for protesting the sentence handed to his lorry driver son-in-law for creating a false record of rest stops.

William Hankin must pay £1,035 in fines and costs for making a false record on his HGV’s tachograph, which measures driver activity.

He admitted the offence to Ipswich magistrates after a vehicle check at Elmswell on May 11 revealed he removed a driver’s card from the device in traffic and exceeded the four-and-a-half hour limit by 29 minutes without rest.

Hankin, 46, of Collingwood Road, in Rainham, had been trying to get home to respond to a family crisis but was stuck in traffic and could find nowhere to pull over.

Magistrates said they had taken into account his guilty plea and mitigation.

When denied a request to comment, his father-in-law protested from the public gallery, before being told to leave, only to return and make further protestations, leading to his ejection from the building.