A 30-year-old man was banned from the road for 18 months today after he admitted dangerous driving and making an offensive gesture.

Magistrates’ Court heard that Pierre Niklaus overtook a police car on Harrington Sound Road in Hamilton Parish and forced it to slow down.

Police saw Niklaus, from Hamilton, attempt to overtake another vehicle and extend his middle finger in an offensive gesture.

Niklaus said when stopped by officers: “Is it because I’m black? Why’s the white man not in cuffs?”

The incident happened on February 13.

Niklaus told Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo: “It was a lapse of judgement”.

He was fined $300 for the offensive gesture and $1,000 for dangerous driving in addition to the ban.