Loclan David McDermid was riding the motorbike in his own yard, but broke the law in crossing Eastern Circuit to also ride on a vacant block.

Had he simply turned off the unregistered 250cc motorbike and wheeled it across he would not have ended up in Albury Local Court, defence solicitor Tim Hemsley told magistrate Rodney Brender on Thursday.

It resulted in McDermid, who has since turned 20, facing a second offence count of disqualified driving, which in turn put him in breach of a section 12 bond, for a 12-month suspended jail sentence.

Mr Brender was amazed that McDermid had received such a harsh penalty for disqualified driving, pointing out it was not a sentence he would have imposed.

He said the law required him to implement the jail term if the breach was proved, which it was after McDermid pleaded guilty.

But Mr Brender said there was some limited scope to not do that, including extenuating circumstances. It was on that basis that he decided he would not take any action on the bond, which will continue, and convict and fine McDermid $550.

“It’s a strange breach, yes.”

McDermid was disqualified from obtaining a licence for 12 months.

However, Mr Brender ordered that the disqualification run concurrently with the existing period due to end on March 28, 2023.

His matter initially was set for a hearing on Thursday.

But after seeing Mr Hemsley, the court’s duty solicitor for the day, McDermid pleaded guilty. Mr Hemsley said McDermid likely had wanted a hearing because of concern over the breach.

Mr Brender told McDermid that legally he had “not much room to move”.

“I think you can consider that a lucky escape. You really need to be very careful about driving anyway near a road.”

Police were called to McDermid’s home on March 19 about 6.30pm after Eastern Circuit residents complained about noise coming from his motorbike.