Magistrate Michael Coghlan warned Daryl Sloane, ​51, of Lava Street, Warrnambool, ​that having an amputated leg was not a get out of jail free card.

Sloane pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to drug driving and three counts of driving while disqualified.

He was fined $2900 with $122 costs and his licence was banned for another three months.

Sloane was originally suspended from driving after a medical review and had to get costly modification to his car.

Solicitor Jack Rabl said his client had his lower left leg amputated last year after complications resulting from diabetes.

Police said Sloane’s licence was suspended in June 2016 and then expired in July last year.

On September 11 last year police said Sloane’s car was seen in Warrnambool’s Merri Street. 

He drove to his Lava Street home where police officers talked to him and Sloane admitted driving.

He said his prosthetic leg was causing him pain, he didn’t want to walk or use his wheelchair and he could not afford the modifications to his car. 

Just over two weeks later Sloane was caught driving while disqualified again in Warrnambool’s Botanic Road.

He said he had been going to get milk so he could have a coffee.

Two months later he was caught again in Lava Street and also tested positive to meth amphetamine.

He told officers he had a bit of ice a couple of night ago and had been going to take his dog for a walk down by the river. 

Sloane’s solicitor said that as a young man his client had got into serious criminal trouble and received jail sentences but in 2000 he promised his mother he would not go back to prison. 

He said he had stuck to that promise and not been in trouble for 15 years.

Mr Rabl said Sloane found it difficult to get around and suffered pain when he walked.

He said his mother passed away last year and his father had now gone into care.

The magistrate said Sloane had been obstinate and just continued to drive.

He said for the first offence you could say that Sloane had a sore leg, but within days he was driving again to get milk and two months later to take his dog for a walk. 

“He knows he’s banned from driving and just does whatever he wants,” Mr Coghlan said.

The magistrate warned Sloane that his dog would be in the pound if he kept driving as Sloane would be imprisoned.

“If he wants to he obstinate, stubborn or bloody-minded he will be jail. He doesn’t get a get out of jail free card because he’s got half a leg.

“If you drive again I will put you in jail. I don’t want you on the roads. I don’t want you to kill someone in this community,” he said.

Sloane said he had now got rid of his car.