A BREAM motorist failed to convince magistrates he should not be disqualified from driving because it would cause “exceptional hardship” but he did get a lighter ban.

Jeremy Awdry of Lydney Road, pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court to driving a Suzuki Splash on the B4231 Bream Avenue, Bream on January 13 this year without a valid licence, third party insurance or test certificate for the vehicle.

He was banned for three months and ordered to pay £470 in fines, costs and surcharges.

The 41-year-old argued against a driving ban on grounds of exceptional hardship.

The magistrates found there would not be special hardship but that they could reduce the ban that would otherwise have been imposed to three months.

The magistrates decided: “Court find that the defendant has not met the criteria sufficiently to avoid a disqualification due to exceptional hardship but have found that it is sufficient to reduce the disqualification period to three months and this is due to the defendant’s responsibility for sheep and his father, who has recently been bereaved.”