Sam Mutton, 19, was handed the fine and sentenced to 150 hours of community service after pleading guilty in July to six counts of criminal damage to Scarborough Council property.

Mutton, of Lilac Walk, was ordered before Scarborough Magistrates' Court again after failing to pay a penny of the money owed to the authority after daubing bus shelters, a bridge, a wall and a litter bin in the town with his distinctive "Setto" tag over a two-year period.

The teenager, who is studying graphic design at Yorkshire Coast College, told the court he was struggling to pay the money because his application to open a bank account and appeal for a student grant had been turned down.

Mutton added he had spoken to the Citizens Advice Bureau about his plight and had been given a list of banks to contact about opening an account.

However, he told magistrates he had only applied to two banks in the last six months and had not applied for a part-time job during that period because his course didn't allow him time.

Magistrates ordered Mutton, who also admitted stealing a Kinderland sign worth £65 and a traffic cone during his original trial, to re-pay the amount at a rate of £3 per week and added he must start thinking about his future – or risk landing a prison sentence.

Magistrates' chairman Carol Barker said: "If you do not pay these fines you will inevitably be going into custody and you have to make some very decisive decisions about where your life is going and take responsibility for it.

"You committed these crimes for which £1,200 is owed and you must pay that amount.

"There are lots of banks out there and you have only applied to two of them, so you have to make more of an effort to open an account to get these fines paid off."