A VAN driver has been handed a fine after stealing a steel joist and allowing children to travel without seatbelts.

Thomas Price entered guilty pleas when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

The 34-year-old had been caught driving a Ford Transit van with no numberplate and with two children sat in the front seat without seatbelts in Cannonmoor Street in Hereford on March 28, prosecutor Elizabeth Backlock said.

He also admitted theft by finding of a rolled steel joist worth £150 from Hydra-Capsule.

Price, of Greenway Road, Cardiff, was fined a total of £300 and must pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.