A COUNTY Durham man has kept his licence despite pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention.

Harrogate Magistrates' Court heard that on April 17, 2021, Stuart James Softley drove a Vauxhall Insignia on the A19 northbound at Kirby Sigston near Northallerton without due care and attention.

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He pleaded guilty to the offence and his case was heard by North Yorkshire Magistrates on Wendesday (May 11).

Softley claimed that losing his driving licence would place him in exceptional hardship.

Magistrates agreed that it would cost him his income, meaning he would not able to contribute towards mortgage payments nor take his children to and from school.

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They spared him a driving ban and instead endorsed his driving licence with five penalty points.

Softley, aged 29 of Acacia Avenue, Horden, was also ordered to pay a £100 fine, £90 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

This means he has to pay a total of £224 to the courts.

 

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