A POLICE officer caught speeding on the edge of Worcester has had penalty points removed from his licence on appeal – to allow him to carry on working as an advanced driver.

David Newell, an officer based in London, had been restricted to administrative duties after he was clocked speeding on the A443 at Holt Heath.

Though he accepted he was driving and the conviction was sound, he successfully appealed against his sentence at Worcester Crown Court yesterday.

As a result the court agreed to slash the number of points on his licence from five to three so he could carry on his role as an advanced police driver.

The 49-year-old of Shrewsbury admitted driving though the Worcestershire village at 50mph in a 30mph road at around 1pm on September 10 last year.

He was given five penalty points and a £415 fine. He already had three points on his licence for a previous speeding offence (driving at 35mph in a 30mph road). Though he was not a totter (12 points or more), the five points in addition to the existing three meant he had eight points on his licence.

This affected the role he performed as a police driver in London, said Patrick Kelly, prosecuting.

“It’s accepted there are no criminal convictions, cautions or warnings,” said Mr Kelly. However, he said the previous speeding matter was relevant. Mr Kelly said Newell had been employed with the police for 29 years and had performed his role as a police driver for 18.

Mr Kelly said: “It’s a matter entirely for your Honour in relation to sentence. Someone in that position with three points on their licence should already be aware of the rules and regulations.”

The guidelines for punishing such a speeding offence are for between four and six penalty points, with the magistrates imposing five. They also had the option of imposing a disqualification but Mr Kelly said this was seen as ‘more draconian’.

Patrick Hill, representing Mr Newell, said his client was a man of good character who had entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and aside from the speeding offence had a 31-year unblemished driving record, 18 years of which had been spent as an advanced police driver.

He said his client accepted he was the driver and would in future ‘make sure there’s no repetition’.

Mr Hill added: “The effect of the eight points is that he’s currently restricted to administrative duties. As matters stand that would be the position until the autumn of next year, a further 17 months.”

He asked if the court could ‘step outside the bracket’ and impose three penalty points instead of the five originally imposed by magistrates or disqualify him for between seven and 28 days.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright, sitting with two of the magistrates who imposed the original sentence, said: “For someone who has been driving for that length of time and acquired only that one endorsement for that offence, we are just persuaded that is mitigation sufficiently powerful to drive the number of penalty points down to the bottom of the available statutory range, namely three penalty points. With considerable reservation we have come to that view.”

The fine and other financial orders stand.