Speeding Tesla driver saves his driving licence at appeal heard before judge
A Tesla-driving financial advisor has won his exceptional hardship case to keep his licence after being caught at a notorious trap for speeding drivers in Telford.
Nathan Daniel Waldron, aged 39, of Ancestry Close, in Stone, Staffordshire, was caught at 35mph by a 30mph camera at Trench Lock on June 10 last year.
The three points he received after pleading guilty at Telford Magistrates Court pushed him to 12 and over the line for a six-month totting up disqualification. He had also previously been caught speeding in May, July and September 2021.
Drivers are allowed to appeal against being banned if they can show evidence of “exceptional hardship” which doesn’t just mean losing a job, it has to be more than that, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Friday. Waldron chocked back tears when he made his appeal case in front of judge Anthony Lowe and magistrates.
He told the court that taxis to get his children to school would cost more than £300 a week. He said he didn’t want his son walking the three miles to his school because of problems in the area. He also could not rely on his mother, who has multiple sclerosis.
Waldron said that as a self-employed financial adviser of four years standing he had to travel to meet clients in places as far apart as Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, and that public transport was not an option.
He said if he could not drive to meet clients in six months he would lose his income of £2,500 a month and have to claim £800 a month in benefits.
But under cross examination Waldron told the court that he had been disqualified for 38 days before the appeal process started and did not work during that period.
