A driver who has ‘never, ever had a licence’ yet drove when his front wheels were down to the metal rims has been jailed for 34 weeks.

Daniel Cain, 26, was seen driving the car near a school in Lowestoft on March 6 in an attempt to get the vehicle back to his home at Northgate in the coastal town.

Cain said he was driving the car home for it to be scrapped but a witness called the police when he became concerned with the vehicle's condition, which was being driven near the school at closing time, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Officers arrived and found the car parked before locating Cain and arresting him.

Cain was charged with driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, no MOT and breaching a suspended sentence.

He previously pleaded guilty to all offences and admitted the breach at Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court.

Cain has never held a driving licence and has 17 previous convictions for 33 offences, the court heard.

He previously received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for dangerous driving, driving with the level of drugs above the specified limit and driving without insurance and without a licence.

He was also given a three-month curfew.

Steven Dyble, defending, said: "He has disassociated himself from his former ties that caused him to acquire a criminal record.

"He has stopped taking narcotics, and apart from this one-off piece of driving, he has managed, for the better part of two years, to keep out of trouble.

"Someone had slashed his front tyres and he was moving the car from his mother's home to outside his home so that the vehicle could be collected for scrap.

"There's no suggestion that the vehicle was driving at speed, and it was a relatively short distance."

Sentencing Cain, Judge David Pugh said: "You have an appalling record for someone of 26.

"You have 17 convictions in 33 offences and there are a number of vehicle-related offences.

"You have never, ever had a licence.

"The car was in a dangerous condition close to school which was closing for the day."

Cain was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for the breach and eight weeks for driving while disqualified to run consecutively for a total of 34 weeks.

He was also banned from driving for two years.