A BUSINESSMAN has been banned from the roads for six months after driving without insurance, despite claiming it had been an emergency.

Mark Leith, a software technical consultant, from Warndon Villages, took the stand yesterday and pleaded his own case at Worcester Magistrates Court, but was banned under the "totting up" scheme.

The 25-year-old had been caught driving his Vauxhall Cavalier without insurance, outside his house, in Vetch Field Avenue, on Sunday, January 25, which carries a minimum six-point penalty.

12 points

He already had six points from a motoring offence in October last year, making 12 points, which is an automatic ban.

Despite telling the court he had only been driving that day because his wife had had a "false alarm" with their unborn baby - the baby was born two days later - the bench still disqualified him from driving, saying: "we do not find exceptional hardship".

He had also told the court that losing his licence would interfere with his job and lose money for his father's company and that he needed to be able to drive to take his five-year-old daughter to school.