A SPEEDING motorist has been allowed to keep her licence because she plans to join the police.

Rachel Batkin, 40, is a senior master driver in the Army and is coming to the end of her military career, Harrogate Magistrates Court heard.

She told the court she hoped to join the police when she becomes a civilian, but that would be impossible if she was disqualified.

She said she needed her licence to attend Army resettlement courses and would face demotion and other consequences if she couldn’t drive.

Batkin, of Norton, near Stockton-on-Tees, pleaded guilty to speeding on the A1(M) north of Wetherby on May 7, 2021. That meant that she would normally be disqualified under the totting-up procedure because she already had penalty points on her licence.

The court decided she would suffer extraordinary hardship if she lost her licence and decided not to disqualify her.

She was given three penalty points, fined £230 and ordered to pay a £34 statutory surcharge and £90 prosecution costs.

She told the court she was based near Beverley and made long distance journeys every weekend.

Her military career was in its final two years and she was taking resettlement courses to prepare for civilian life.