A man who was caught driving at nearly 80mph on a 50mph road has avoided a driving ban because he works at a Covid-19 vaccination centre.

Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard how Audi driver Benjamin Mather, aged 41, was caught speeding at 78mph on the A339 Sandleford Link in Newbury, Berkshire, on December 1, 2020.

Mather, of Derbyshire Street in Tower Hamlets, London faced a ‘totting up’ driving ban after he had accrued 12 penalty points on his licence over the past three years, but the magistrates at Wycombe opted not to disqualify him from driving due to “mitigating circumstances” around his job at a vaccination centre.

A note attached to the court listing states: “No totting disqualification. Mitigating circumstances: sole carer for a vulnerable parent; vulnerable patients; responsibility for geriatric patients; key worker working at Covid vaccine centre.”

Rather than banning him from the roads, the justices opted instead to give him a £1,000 fine, which he had to pay on top of £185 court costs. Mather’s driving licence was also endorsed with six points.

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