A PRIMARY care trust executive escaped a driving ban yesterday after being clocked at more than 100mph on a North Yorkshire motorway.

Magistrates at Harrogate heard how James Stroyan, who manages a team of social workers, district nurses and housing officers for County Durham PCT, was on his way home from a trip to London when police spotted his blue BMW travelling at 102mph on the A1(M) at Marton-le-Moor, near Ripon, on October 14.

When 34-year-old Stroyan, of Thorngate, Barnard Castle, pleaded guilty to speeding his solicitor, Lee-Anne Robins-Hicks, said he had been stuck in traffic on his way north and had been ''enthusiastic'' to get home when the road cleared.

She said Stroyan needed to drive for his job ''supporting and safeguarding vulnerable members of the community,'' both elderly people and youngsters with difficulties and disabilities.

Fining Stroyan 400 with 45 costs, 15 victims' surcharge and six penalty points, court chairman Gordon Charlton told him: ''We all know that with the state of the motorways these days we can be in congestion. But that is no excuse for speeding thereafter.''