A wedding photographer caught speeding for the fourth time can remain in the driving seat.

Caroline White, 44, a mother of three from Moss Lane in Beeston, already had nine penalty points on her driving licence when she was caught speeding at Holyhead Road in Menai Bridge in April.

Her Land Rover Freelander was caught travelling at 41 mph in a 30 mph area and with the additional four points in meant she faced a driving ban under the totting up procedure.

Exceptional hardship

But following a plea on her behalf by solicitor Adam Antoszkiw, Flintshire Magistrates’ Court at Mold agreed that a ban would cause her exceptional hardship.

She was fined £393 with £85 costs and a £39 surcharge and she was told that she would have to drive ‘extremely carefully’ in the future.

Mr Antoszkiw said that his client – who admitted speeding – had been working hard to maintain her home after her partner ended the relationship by text message and left.

She had worked hard to secure a number of weddings and had eight booked before the end of December.

Each wedding required four to five visits.

Without a licence she would be unable to attend weddings, visit clients and venues.

He said she used her vehicle to carry a large amount of equipment.

She employed two people who would also suffer hardship if she could not continue, and she would be unable to meet the mortgage repayments and other bills and could lose her home.

“This is a job that she cannot do without a vehicle,” he said.

White was also a volunteer for The Redwings Horse and Donkey Sanctuary and used her equine experience to go out and assess animals when reports of neglect or ill-treatment were received by the charity.

The loss of her licence would also affect her ability to carry out that important voluntary work, he said.

White in evidence said that she was now the sole bread winner, she lived ‘out in the sticks’, and public transport was not an option to do her job as a photographer.

The weddings which had been booked were as far afield as Cambridge, she explained.