A POWYS motorist has been allowed to leave court with his driving licence – despite now having 18 points on it.
Jamie Oliver Thomas Pembridge appeared at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates’ Court this week, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of driving without insurance.
The 20-year-old had only just kept hold of his licence in January this year, after magistrates had accepted his exceptional hardship argument following admitting driving with two defective tyres in Howey in May 2022.
Pembridge, who already had points on his licence at the time, was spared a disqualification as magistrates had been impressed by the fact he’d managed to keep his job as a tree surgeon despite going to prison for a previous unrelated offence.
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On Wednesday, May 24, at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates' Court he was again allowed to keep his licence because the no insurance matter pre-dated his January 2023 sentence, when he received three penalty points, taking him to 12 points in total.
The no insurance matter came to light in the early hours of December 7 last year, when Pembridge, of Penybryn, Crossgates, was stopped driving a Yamaha motorcycle on the A470 at Newbridge-on-Wye.
The court heard on Wednesday that Pembridge had pleaded guilty by post to the charge, a relatively minor motoring matter, but had requested a full court hearing due to having 12 points on his licence.
Having put forward the exceptional hardship argument before the court at his January hearing, Pembridge would have been told that he cannot use that reason again for a three-year period. However, it was pointed out that the new offence occurred before he was sentenced.
Having not committed any further offences in the ensuing months, magistrates told Pembridge they would reopen his case.
He told the court: “I work in the forestry and commute to different locations each day. No-one works with me that lives locally. If I’m banned today I will lose my job.”
Chairman of the bench, Karen Williams, told Pembridge: “We have given this considerable thought and we feel it is in the interests of justice to reopen the case.
“We agreed with your exceptional hardship argument from last time. There is absolutely no way you can use this argument again.”
They fined Pembridge £200 and told him to pay £85 costs. They also attached six points to his licence – meaning he now has 18 points on it in total.
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