A motorist has kept his driving licence after he convinced magistrates he was essential to reducing the medical surgery backlog.

Mike Hope, 43, of Doncaster Road, Tadcaster, was spotted speeding on Wetherby Road, Walton, near Tadcaster on New Year’s Day, 2021.

When he appeared before Kirklees Magistrates, he admitted the offence and was given three penalty points.

Because he already had points on his licence, the penalty meant that he would normally be disqualified from driving under the totting-up procedure for at least six months.

But magistrates decided he could keep his licence.

He told them he assisted surgeons in operating theatres to operate robotics. The magistrates decided that this was a specialist role. They recorded that “due to the acute shortage of qualified people in this role it would cause exceptional hardship to patients and surgeons who are dealing with a back log of operations and would have to cancel procedures.”

In addition to the penalty points, they ordered Hope to pay a total of £482 consisting of a £361 fine, a £36 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Should Hope be caught speeding again he could not use the same reason to convince the next set of magistrates to let him keep his licence.