By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 09:16, Monday, 03 December 2012

A coach driver whose driving was so bad his passengers phoned the police to stop him has persuaded a judge to lift his ban from driving.

Brian Larrad was jailed for a year and banned from driving for three years in February 2010 for playing “cat and mouse” with another driver on the motorway near Carlisle.

The court heard how for some reason the 55-year-old driver took umbrage over a car towing a caravan in front of him after he joined the motorway at the Carlisle North junction.

He then repeatedly overtook the car, then dramatically slowed down in front of it so that its driver had no option to pass the National Express bus so it could all happen again.

The whole episode was caught by a camera placed on the dashboard beside the driver.

When Larrad was convicted of dangerous driving at Carlisle Crown Court, Judge Paul Batty QC said it was one of the worst cases of its type he had ever heard.

But Larrad – who no longer drives for a living – has been back before the same judge in a bid to get his licence back early.

He explained that he now had a temporary job as an adviser for an energy company in Manchester, which was likely to be made permanent in the New Year.

But he said he was finding it difficult having to rely on public transport to travel from his home in Chadderton, Oldham, to his work in Manchester.

Frequently working until 8pm meant he had to use two buses, which took nearly one and a half hours to get him home, he said.

“I am experiencing a little difficulty getting home at that time of night,” he said.

Judge Batty agreed to lift the ban, which anyway would have expired in late January.

But Larrad will still not be allowed back behind the wheel until he has passed an extended driving test.

First published at 09:13, Monday, 03 December 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk