A VAN driver caught driving without a licence or insurance has been cleared of a knife possession charge by magistrates.
Ashley Lauterdale appeared before magistrates in Hereford in April after admitting one count of driving without a licence and one of driving without insurance at an earlier hearing.
He was found not guilty at the hearing of a third charge, of possessing a flick or gravity knife in St Michaels, near Tenbury Wells, on June 11 last year, to which he had entered a not guilty plea at an earlier hearing.
The court heard from prosecutor Andrew Mitchinson that the 32-year-old had been caught out while behind the wheel of a white Ford Transit van on the A4112 near Tenbury on June 11.
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Checks revealed that he did not have a licence authorising him to drive a vehicle of that class and did not have a valid third party insurance in policy in place at the time.
Lauterdale, of Bargates, Leominster, was fined £120 and received six penalty points for the offences, with magistrates saying they had taken his guilty plea into account when deciding on the penalty.
He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £130 and a £34 victim surcharge, which is used to help fund services supporting victims of crime.
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