A MAN caught riding an off-road motorbike through York suburbs when three times the drink drive limit has been banned from the roads for 44 months.

Police spotted uninsured rider Matthew Lloyd Cooper, 29, riding at speed in Station Avenue, New Earswick, and on Huntington Road on May 13. When they tried to stop him, he rode on the pavement until he crashed into an electric box and made off on foot, said Kathryn Reeve, prosecuting.

But an officer chased and caught him. It was the second time he had been caught drink driving in 10 years.

Defence solicitor John Howard said Cooper had been behaving “like a kid” on his way home from a field where he and others had tried out the motorbike.

Scaffolder Cooper, of Roche Avenue, Huntington, pleaded guilty to drink riding, riding without insurance and riding without a valid licence.

York magistrates ordered him to do 130 hours’ unpaid work, fined him £405, ordered him to pay £125 costs and an £85 statutory surcharge and banned from driving for 44 months.

Ms Reeve said Cooper’s breath test was 101 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. Although he had a driving licence, he had not taken his compulsory bike training and therefore couldn’t ride the motorcycle on a road.

Mr Howard said Cooper had recently become a father for the second time, but the baby had needed surgery within days of birth. He had been in trouble when younger, but four years ago had got married and had a stable job. He had led to him not being in trouble with the police since 2013.