Footballer avoids jail over driving offences

Manchester City’s Argentinian football player Carlos Tevez (centre) leaves Macclesfield magistrates court in Macclesfield, northwest England, yesterday after pleading guilty to charges of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

AFP/London

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez avoided jail but was sentenced to perform 250 hours of community service after pleading guilty yesterday to two motoring offences.

The Argentina forward was also handed a six-month driving ban and ordered to pay £1,145 in fines and court costs at Macclesfield Magistrates’ Court, near Manchester.

He must do his community service within the next 12 months and his driving ban starts immediately.

Speaking in Spanish, the 29-year-old pleaded guilty through an interpreter to one count each of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

Passing sentence, Elizabeth Depares told the star: “Tevez, you must realise you are a role model to thousands, if not millions, of fans but nobody is above the law. You should not have been driving.

“We have heard that you are sorry and it is now up to you to ensure you will not be brought back to court again.”

The Argentinian received a six-month driving ban at Manchester Magistrates’ Court in January after admitting failing to reply to police letters about who was driving a vehicle of his that was caught speeding.

He claimed he did not respond as he did not recognise the word “constabulary”. He was stopped at the wheel as he left a golf club on March 7, following an anonymous tip-off to the police.

The court heard he told the officer who stopped him: “I only live down the road. Two minutes.”

After speaking to Tevez in private following his plea, Probation Service officer Mike Boliver told the court Tevez had no previous convictions so rehabilitation was not appropriate and neither was a curfew order due to the travel involved with his job.