A motorist has been fined £1,080 after admitting driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition and without insurance.

Vishnu Murugan appeared before magistrates recently.

The 31-year-old's driving licence was also endorsed with eight penalty points following the hearing.

Prosecuting advocate Kate Alexander told the court that officers from the Isle of Man Constabulary saw the defendant driving a Mercedes A150 on September 27 last year.

He was not driving in the correct lane and was said to have narrowly missed colliding with the police vehicle.

Murugan was subsequently stopped by police and when asked about his insurance status, he admitted he was not insured and said he was on his way to meet his wife who had the forms to do it.

The vehicle was seized and as it was being hoisted onto a recovery vehicle, petrol was seen to be leaking from it.

The vehicle was then taken to the test centre where several defects were found.

Defence advocate Helen Lobb said that Murugan, who lives at Broadway, had bought the vehicle the day before he was stopped by police.

She said that the car had advertised on Facebook Marketplace as a ‘well looked after car, buy and drive’.

Ms Lobb submitted a copy of the advert to magistrates as well as confirmed of the sale.

The advocate said that Murugan had tried to insure the car but had been told that he couldn’t until the previous owner’s policy was cancelled.

Ms Lobb asked for credit to be given for her client’s guilty pleas and his previous clean driving licence.

Magistrates fined the defendant £650 for having no insurance and £430 for the vehicle being unroadworthy.

He must also pay £50 prosecution costs and will pay all amounts at a rate of £100 per month.