A white van man has been landed with a criminal conviction and given a £266 court bill for tooting his horn to get his friend's attention. 

Jamie Spence, 52, was sounding his horn outside Braintree train station in Essex on December 4 last year when he was spied by an Essex Police officer.

PC Asa Smith then reported Spence, from Chelmsford, for 'sounding an unauthorised audible warning instrument on a vehicle' - triggering a criminal prosecution.

Colchester Magistrates' Court heard how PC Smith had been watching Spence's Ford Transit van after suspecting he was travelling over the 20mph speed limit while approaching the station. 

In a statement read to the court, PC Smith said: 'When outside the station, subject vehicle hooted horn a number of times to try and get the attention of a friend, not for the purpose of warning other road users.'

The force decided to bring a criminal charge against Spence on April 29. 

He pled guilty to the charge and at a hearing last week, was handed a £146 fine and ordered to pay £120 in costs by magistrate Richard Deacon. 

Spence had been offered the chance to settle the case out of court according to official documents, however, did not respond to a police offer to pay a fixed penalty fine. 

The case was instead dealt with in the Single Justice Procedure, where low-level crimes are resolved behind closed doors.

His case was one of 110 dealt with on May 12. 

And across the last week, motorists in England and Wales were prosecuted for similar vehicular offences. 

These included not maintaining their windscreen wipers, driving the wrong way up a motorway slip road, and attending an illegal road race. 

The RAC advises motorists that the Highway Code says that driver 'should only use a car horn when they need to alert other road users of danger of a collision or in the event of a potentially dangerous situation.

'It can also be used to alert drivers when approaching a blind spot or corner.'

The RAC adds, in its online advice: 'Misuse of a car horn is illegal and can result in fines for the driver and owner of the vehicle.'