On the day Joey Barton discovers the extent of the FA's punishment for his training ground assault on Ousmane Dabo, his former Manchester City team-mate, the Newcastle United midfielder could be in more trouble after being pictured driving erratically through Newcastle city centre.

The claims come on the day the England midfielder attends an FA hearing for his assault on Dabo, with some predicting he could face as much as a 15-game ban. However, Barton could now find himself in further trouble after being pictured jumping a red light and using a series of bus lanes as he drove to meet his probation officer in Newcastle yesterday.

In July the 26-year-old was handed a four-month suspended sentence for the training-ground assault and also spent 74 days in jail after being sentenced to six months' imprisonment for assault and affray in a separate incident which took place in Liverpool city centre.

Pictures released today appear to show Barton's Range Rover Sport using bus lanes to pass vehicles on the inside lane, before failing to stop at a red light. However, Willie McKay, Barton's representative, has defended his client and questioned the actions of the photographer who took the pictures.

"Why are they following him?," he said. "It is a disgrace. What would you do if people followed you in a car?. What is the guy meant to do? He doesn't know who is in the car, does he?"

McKay confirmed that Barton would be present to face his FA hearing today but said he hoped his client would soon be able to put the incident behind him.

"I expect a guy that has committed a crime and has done his time now and the Government has set rules and regulations that you do your crime and do your time, after that they want you to be rehabilitated," he added.

"I think if it was Joe Bloggs on the street, he would not even have got that and enough is enough, to tell you the truth. People follow him and hound him in his apartment block. Who do these people think they are to hound people for a story for a newspaper? It doesn't happen in America."