MAGISTRATES in Swindon took the unusual step of not disqualifying a motorist from driving despite the fact that he had been driving at 113mph on a dual carriageway and accumulated 12 points on his licence.

After pleading guilty to speeding on the A419 Swindon to Cirencester road at 8.57am on June 25 this year, Calin Ali Meze, 27, representing himself in court, persuaded the bench that he would suffer exceptional hardship if he were to lose his licence.

He told magistrates on Tuesday he had driven his Volkswagen Bora at speed that morning simply to get away from the heavy traffic on the A419 by the junction with the Spine Road.

“I didn’t realise I had got to that speed,” he said. “I just wanted to get out of the cars.”

He added that he already had six points on his licence from using a mobile phone while driving and if he lost his licence as the result of another six points he would have to leave the country.

He said he was desperate to keep his licence as he worked as a fork-lift driver on a building site outside Evesham but lived in Newent in the Forest of Dean.

He had been driving to work when stopped by the police.

“I have just spent £800 for my Level 2 fork-lift qualification and I will not be able to live here if I lose my job. I will have to leave the country,” he said.

“My dad has cancer and I pay £1,000 a month for his treatment in Austria because in Romania they haven’t got the same treatment. I am not qualified at any other trade.”

Bench chairman Diana Crockett told Meze: “You were driving at massively high speed on a dual carriageway at a time when it was very busy. However, we have taken into account what you have told us.

“We are adding six points to your licence and as a totter we would normally ban you but because of the exceptional hardship that would result we will let those points sit on your licence without a ban.

“You realise that you will hardly be able to blow your nose in future without thinking ‘Is this safe?’ You are on a knife edge.”

In addition to the six points, Meze was fined £750 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £75.