PROFESSIONAL rugby player Jamie Ellis has been spared a driving ban after he was caught speeding in a Land Rover on the East Lancs Road at Tyldesley on April 27 last year.

Ellis, aged 32, of Manchester Road, Bury, who plays for York City Knights, admitted committing the offence and the speeding conviction meant he had accumulated enough points on his licence to be disqualified from driving.

But Wigan magistrates decided not to ban him after hearing that he would lose his job as a player and find it difficult to see his children.

Ellis was fined £491 and was ordered to pay £49 towards the cost of funding victim services.