A MAN caught repeatedly driving hire cars despite being banned from the roads has been jailed for four months.

Officers from the West Operation Raptor team were patrolling in Wharf Road South, Grays on January 9 last year when they spotted 27-year-old Eric Agyei stood next to a red Mercedes.

The vehicle had the doors wide open and Agyei was stood next to it with camera equipment in his hand. Officers asked how the car had got there and Agyei claimed it had been rented and driven there by another man.

When officers checked with the hire car company they established that Agyei had an account with the company and had rented 32 vehicles over a four-month period.

He was voluntarily interviewed by officers and charged with driving whilst disqualified, dishonestly failing to disclose information and using a motor vehicle without insurance.

Agyei of New Cross Road , New Cross Gate, pleaded guilty to the offences when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court. He was jailed for four months and was banned from driving for 16-months.

Following the sentencing Det Sgt Scott Fitzmaurice of the West Operation Raptor team said: "Disqualified drivers are banned from our roads for a reason and those individuals who flout the law by driving are therefore uninsured and placing other innocent road users at risk.

"It's clear by the amount of times that Agyei was hiring vehicles that he was not lawfully allowed to drive, that he had no regard for the law and he was punished accordingly by the courts."

Essex Police set up Operation Raptor teams in the North, South and West of the county to tackle drug and gang-related crime.

If you have information about drug or gang-related crime in your community contact Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.