A MAN has been ordered by a court to pay nearly £3,000 after being found to have “deliberately” flown an aircraft at lower than 500ft along a beach.

David Hoare faced two counts of flying an aircraft at lower than 500ft in breach of rules 3105 and 5005(f) of the Standardised European Rules of the Air.

It relates to incidents on April 15 of last year when Hoare was spotted flying a paramotor aircraft ‘dangerously close' to Lyme Regis beach with one witness describing the incident as ‘frightening’.

Ms Slater, from the Civil Aviation Authority, played magistrates a short clip in which Hoare, of Hurcot in Somerset, could be seen flying the motorised aircraft ‘in the vicinity of Lyme Regis beach’.

In a statement, one witness, who had been walking to Charmouth with his one-year-old son, said he noticed Hoare overhead at about 3pm.

He said: “As he got very close to me I had to turn away a bit and crouch down to avoid him. I was very frightened, particularly for my son (as) he was only about four metres away from me.”

Hoare failed to attend Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, January 24, and offered no contradictory evidence.

The magistrates’ found the matter to be proven.

They heard Hoare had a number of previous convictions for similar offences - including twice flying over the restricted airspace during Glastonbury Festival in both 2011 and 2016.

He was last convicted for three similar offences at Taunton Magistrates Court when he was fined a total of £400.

The magistrates’ bench said they had “considered all the evidence and made a note of Mr Hoare’s previous convictions for a number of similar offences over a period of years.”

They said they viewed the offence as a “deliberate act” and that a “considerable fine” was appropriate. 

A fine of £2,000 was imposed alongside costs of £750 and surcharge of £190 to fund victim services. Hoare was given 28 days to pay the total sum of £2,940.