A lorry driver who attempted to bring thousands of pounds of alcohol into the country without paying duty has had his professional driving licence suspended.

Michael Fitch will not be able to drive professionally again this year after a hearing in Eastbourne found that he was caught while bringing large quataties alcohol from Calais to the UK without declaring it to customs.

Mr Fitch, of North Downs Crescent, New Addington was stopped in July last year by HMRC officials when returning from France with a trailer he had picked up on the continent.

His vehicle had an expired tax disc and was not displaying a valid operators licence disc.

The amount seized would have amounted to £36,450 in duty and VAT.

At the hearing last week, the 72-year-old told the traffic commissioner Nicholas Denton he had been offered work by a Steven Hatter, who he met at the Circus Tavern garage in Purfleet.

He said he only met Mr Hatter the once and after that received instructions by phone, working for him for about a year.

His professional driving licence will be suspended from July 1 for six months, meaning he is disqualified until January next year.

Mr Denton said: "Driving untaxed vehicles with no operator’s licence and with drivers’ hours therefore unsupervised, and carrying goods on which excise duty has been evaded, is unfair on those operators and drivers who abide by the rules and is a serious threat to road safety in that there is no employer check and enforcement of drivers’ hours as would normally be the case."