Motorcyclist pleads guilty to dangerous driving while disqualified after 'erratic' riding in Northampton

A disqualified driver who was seen riding an off-road motorcycle with a young teenage pillion passenger in Northampton has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

Joshua Oliver Streeton, of Avon Drive, pleaded guilty to driving dangerously and while disqualified at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on August 10.

The charge relates to an offence on July 28, when officers from Northamptonshire Police’s Operation Revive team on patrol spotted the scrambler bike as it rode towards them after both had entered Severn Drive from opposite directions.

The rider, who was wearing a distinctive orange jacket, briefly stopped which enabled officers to identify him, before he rode off at excessive speed, mounting pavements and through road junctions without looking.

Police say the rider’s erratic driving had placed himself, his young teenage passenger, and others at risk.

When officers attended Streeton’s home address they recovered the distinctive orange jacket he had been wearing at the time however, the bike was not there.

Sergeant Scott Garbett of the Northampton Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “We’ve received numerous complaints about the nuisance motorcycles which have plagued the King’s Heath area recently - riding on playfields, on footpaths and on our roads.

“This is not only anti-social behaviour but is also extremely dangerous. Not only are the riders putting their own lives at risk, but the lives of their pillion passengers, other road users and pedestrians.”

Streeton is due to be sentenced at the same court on September 6.