A CARLISLE man used his boss’s van without permission and was then involved in a crash which caused £4,000 damage to that vehicle.

Ryan Dicker, 30, committed four offences just a day after he had appeared in court and received a conditional discharge for a separate crime.

A district judge heard that the owner of a Ford Transit van was Dicker’s employer. 

“He parked the van outside Mr Dicker’s home address,” prosecutor George Shelley told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.

“It appears there was a spare set of keys in the glove box for the vehicle, which it appears Mr Dicker has used to then drive the van.

“There has then been a road traffic collision with significant damage caused.”

Dicker’s employer had estimated that the cost of repairing that damage was in the region of £4,000.

Dicker was arrested, charged and brought to court.

He admitted offences of aggravated vehicle taking on 12th June this year, along with failing to provide a specimen of blood for analysis, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence on Denton Street in Carlisle and having no valid insurance policy in force at the time.

The district judge, John Temperley, said a probation service report would need to be prepared before a sentence is passed.

He noted that Dicker was in breach of a conditional discharge which had been imposed by a court the day before the driving offences, on 11th June.

“You will in due course get credit (a discount) for the fact you have pleaded guilty to these offences at the earliest opportunity,” said the judge. “I am going to seek a report which considers all sentencing options. I gather there may be mental health issues in the background that may need to be explored.”

Dicker, of Beaumont Avenue, Carlisle, was granted unconditional bail and is due to be back at court on 2nd August.

*A court-imposed discharge means that no sentence is passed immediately providing a defendant stays out of trouble for a specified time period.