If you ban me from driving I might as well become a bum court told. They banned him

UNEMPLOYED charity worker Leslie Chesterman was banned from driving for six months when he failed to convince magistrates that a disqualification would cause him exceptional hardship.

Chesterman, 48, of Cattle Dyke, Gorfield, said he needed a licence to carry out his work of clearing charity shops, as well as taking his step son to school in Kings Lynn, and taking members of his family to hospital appointments.

“If I am disqualified, I might as well become a bum,” he said. “I do my best for the community, I don’t sit about or doss.

“I don’t sit about in the park, drinking; I get up at 6am seven days a week, I never sleep in.”

Chesterman, who had told the court he suffered from diabetes and was on anti-depressants, said he drives around 200 miles a week, and could not afford taxi fares of �40 a day.

With nine points already on his driving licence, his latest conviction for failing to give information about a driver’s identity took him over the 12 points that lead to a ban under the “totting up” procedure. He was fined �100 with �35 costs and a �15 surcharge.