A SERIAL bad driver has been given a 17-month suspended prison sentence and told to stay off alcohol for life.

Daniel James Bell was at the wheel of a car “very slowly meandering its way through York city centre” when he was supposed to be doing a three-year driving ban, York Crown Court heard.

Eddison Flint, prosecuting, said there were pedestrians about as Bell drove dangerously in Station Rise near the Principal Hotel.

City centre CCTV operators were so concerned when they saw his car on their cameras they alerted police who stopped Bell near Fulford Road Police Station. A breath test taken more than an hour after the bad driving revealed that Bell was three times the drink drive limit.

After looking at his previous convictions, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told him: “You have got a bad record for driving, you have a drink problem and you could have no grumbles about being locked up for these offences.” 

A video of Bell's driving showed the car “very slowly meandering its way through York city centre and mounting the kerb," he said. 

He gave Bell a 17-month prison sentence but suspended it for two years on condition Bell does 26 days’ rehabilitative activities and six months’ of alcohol treatment.

“This is an opportunity to turn your life around,” he told Bell. “You will never be able to touch the stuff (alcohol) again. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.

“If you want to end up in the gutter go back to the bottle.”

Bell, 29, of James Street, central York, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, drink driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and assaulting a police emergency worker.

In addition to the suspended sentence, Bell was given a three-year driving ban and ordered to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

Bell has previous convictions for drink and drug driving.

For him, Emily Hassell said he had been the victim of “serious offending” when he was a child and the person who did it had been given a prison sentence.

“That led to him being dependent on alcohol and has led to his offending behaviour,” she said. He is very remorseful.”

Bell had started tackling his alcohol addiction and was being supported by agencies as he was a “vulnerable” person. 

“He does appear to have made progress,” she said. “There have been no convictions since these offences.”

Mr Flint said CCTV operators saw Bell’s driving 30 minutes after midnight on October 25, 2021. He had been banned from driving 15 months earlier for three years.

After he was arrested, he tried to hit a police officer with his head in Fulford Road Police Station. He didn’t make contact.