Some celebrate their birthday by going out for a meal – but for this delivery driver it was a trip to the dock.

Ionut Pitigoi, of Clarence Road in Peterborough, turned 32 on Thursday, as probation officer Lewis Spicer announced when the defendant appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court for a number of driving offences.

His gift from the courts was a 15-month driving ban and a 12-month community order, through which he will have to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.

Pitigoi was caught driving while disqualified and without insurance by the same police officer on two occasions – and during one of those stops, he was found not to be wearing a seatbelt.

Prosecutor Jessica Neequaye said that on October 10 at around 4.05pm, the officer was exiting a service station on Clenchwarton Road in West Lynn, and spotted the defendant and a passenger in a Fiat Ducato van.

He pulled the driver over on Nar Ouse Way as they entered South Lynn, and as the officer went to issue a caution, he discovered Pitigoi’s licence had expired, and that he was also disqualified until March 2026.

Less than a month later, on December 8, the same officer was on patrol in Downham and recognised Pitigoi in a white Ford Transit van.

When stopped, the defendant tried to deceive him and pretended to be his brother.

In mitigation, solicitor Tiffany Meredith told magistrates that Pitigoi was making deliveries during both incidents, and often, when he is on the job, he has limited time between stops, which is why he was not wearing a seatbelt.

“He was not aware that he was disqualified on the first occasion, though on the second he would’ve been,” she said.

Ms Meredith explained that Pitigoi’s job supports both him and his teenage son, and he will have to find new employment due to the ban, which has been extended until March 2027.

Pitigoi was also ordered to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £110 in court costs.

There was no separate penalty for him failing to wear a seatbelt.

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