Rogue Hartlepool biker jailed after he was caught when running out of fuel

Mark Gary Carroll was spotted by police riding a Honda quad bike along the A689, near Dalton Back Lane, Hartlepool, on January 12.

They briefly followed him before stopping to question him after he quickly ran out of fuel.

Checks soon revealed that Carroll was already banned from the road and he also tested positive for both cannabis and cocaine.

Carroll, 33, of Kesteven Road, Hartlepool, has now been jailed for more than six months by Teesside magistrates after the court heard how he was also in breach of a suspended sentence imposed for a previous driving while disqualified conviction.

They concluded that the January 12 offence was “so serious because the offence was aggravated by being committed while subject to a community sentence”.

Carroll was imprisoned for 16 weeks after admitting two counts of drug driving and one each of driving while disqualified and without insurance.

He received an additional 12 weeks in jail after he was re-sentenced for his 2020 driving while disqualified conviction.

Carroll learned his fate via video link after he was locked up earlier this month for a separate incident committed after his January offences.

He was one of two Hartlepool men who led police on a chase after a bungled bid to steal machinery from a Barnard Castle farm in May.

They live streamed the pursuit on social media channel Snapchat before they were stopped and arrested after officers were alerted.

Carroll and accomplice Leon Robinson, 32, of South Road, Hartlepool, were sentenced to 20 months in prison each at Durham Crown Court and ordered to pay £156 compensation to the farmer.

Both pleaded guilty to burglary and failing to surrender to custody.

Carroll also admitted driving while disqualified, dangerous driving and driving without insurance.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Hindmarsh, of Durham Constabulary CID, hoped after the Barnard Castle incident that “this result deters others who think they can come into our rural areas to commit criminal offences”.

She added: “ “We will not stand for this type of behaviour in our communities.”

Carroll received a new three-year driving ban at Teesside Magistrates’ Court following the Hartlepool offences.

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