A 24-year-old man has been ordered to serve 40 hours community service for a catalogue of driving offences.

Stuart Lee Williams of Epping Road, Ongar, was caught driving a Mercedes in Epping on February 16, which he had taken without the consent of the owner.

Mr Williams did not have an appropriate driving licence, nor did he have any insurance for the vehicle.

At the time of the offence Mr Williams claims that he and his friends had been drinking in the Black Lion pub on Epping High Street.

Mr Williams says that his friend was going to drive his own car home but he was too drunk, so he took the car to prevent him from doing so.

Appearing before Chelmsford Magistrates Court, today, Mr Williams entered a guilty plea for the offences of taking a car without consent, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

Magistrate Audrey Harrington ordered that Mr Williams pay £145 pounds court costs, alongside taking penalty points and carrying out unpaid work.

She said: “I think that this is serious enough for a community order.

“We are going to make a community order for a period of twelve months. Forty hours of unpaid work must be carried out in the community.

“For the offence of no insurance your provisional licence will be endorsed with six penalty points.

“If you had not entered an early guilty plea, your sentence would have been much higher.”