A biker has been told he can’t change his plea after he realised he would face a mandatory ban for dangerous driving.

Forty-five year-old Neil Atkinson admitted the offence earlier this year but, after he found out sentencing guidelines meant he would be banned for at least 12 months, applied to change his plea to not guilty.

In August, Deputy High Bailiff Alistair Montgomerie heard Atkinson had forced a car to swerve to avoid him on the Mountain Road in March and police clocked his speed as 58mph in a 40 zone.

One motorist described his riding as "lunacy".

In a written application to change his plea, Atkinson said he would have pleaded not guilty if he had realised he was facing a ban.

His advocate said he had been under the "erroneous assumption" that a disqualification was not inevitable and that there was substantial mitigation of an unusual nature.

But Mr Montgomerie said defendants couldn’t change their mind simply because they didn’t like the sentence.

He refused to allow Atkinson to change his plea.

(Picture: Douglas Courthouse, where Neil Atkinson appeared).