Stafford clergyman, 84, caught speeding three times
He has been caught speeding three times in just over a year. But 84-year-old church minister Reverend Joshua Emanuel Brooks has been allowed to keep his driving licence after a court heard a ban would cause him 'exceptional hardship'.
Rev Brooks, a member of the pastoral team at the Mount Peniel Church of God in Christ Apostolic based in Stafford, admitted to driving his Toyota Lucida at 41mph through a 30-zone, Cannock Magistrates' Court heard.
The speeding took place on Wolverhampton Road in Moss Pit, Stafford, on June 23 last year.
Rev Brooks, of North Avenue, Stafford, had nine penalty points for two previous driving offences in 2012, prosecutor Mr John Peel said. Rev Brooks told the court he was driving the car but did not think he was going over the 30mph speed.
Magistrates fined him £85 plus £60 court costs and a £20 victim surcharge.
He also had a further three penalty points added to his driving licence, making a total of 12 which gave magistrates the option of banning him.
But he told the court he would suffer 'exceptional hardship' and that it would impact on his travelling to assemblies of his church across the West Midlands.
He said: "It would affect my ministry. I travel and work in the community in Stafford but also in Wednesfield, Dudley and Walsall and help a lot of people.
"We have services on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sunday. I also travel to see those who are immobile. I also have a lot of commitments with my family. My wife is not physically well and I need to take my daughters to work at Stafford College."
He said there was nobody who could drive him to carry out his pastoral work.
Magistrates decided not to ban the church minister – saying they believed it would be severely impact on his work.
But they warned him that if he was to be caught speeding again that he was likely to lose his licence.
