Four drivers have been put on notice by magistrates after being allowed to keep their licences despite accruing 12 points.

They were among seven motorists who asked justices to spare them disqualification due to 'exceptional hardship' on Friday.

Drivers can avoid the minimum six-month ban for 'totting up' by showing that another party would suffer the consequences.

Raymond Coppin, 70, drove at 81mph on the A12 near East Bergholt on July 17 last year.

The tiler, of Nelson Road, Leigh-on-Sea, already had nine speeding points, but persuaded magistrates that a ban would lead to a loss of income and cause exceptional hardship for his wife.

Helen Barber, 31, of Alan Road, Ipswich, received a fourth speeding ticket for driving at 54mph on a 40mph stretch of the A1214 at Pinewood on June 6.

She said a ban would badly affect her son's ability to attend occupational therapy and hospital appointments.

Court bailiff Grant McCluskey, 35, of Cedar Road, Norwich, who drove at 35mph in a 30mph zone at Lower Hacheston on April 11, said it would be impossible to use public transport to reach jobs across Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Essex, or support his uncles in caring for his sick grandmother.

Security contract manager, Jack Loxley, 34, of Ayrshire Road, Waterlooville, Hampshire, who drove at 81mph on the A12 at Pettistree on May 7, argued that a ban would "cripple" his ability to travel the country for work and run his pregnant partner to maternity appointments, adding: "This has opened my eyes to what an idiot I was."

Three others failed to prove exceptional hardship and were banned for six months.

Food stand operator Hugo Tracey, 40, of Friday Street, Brandeston, drove a van at 44mph along the 30mph stretch of A12 at Blythburgh after leaving the Latitude festival on July 22.

Semi-professional footballer Tevan Allen, 22, of Clover Close, Ipswich, drove an Audi A6 at 80mph between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary on July 17.

Lewis Gee, 27, St Edmunds Crescent, Kessingland, had already collected 12 points for driving without insurance when he committed same offence in Lowestoft on July 25.

Having used the exceptional hardship argument to keep his licence in 2017, Gee was told he could not use the same reasons for a second reprieve.

Finally, magistrates said they respected the honesty of 21-year-old provisional licence holder Paul Kerrison, who rode a Piaggio Zip scooter on Chaucer Road without insurance or an L-plate on September 5.

He told them: "I've not got a job at the moment and don't need my bike, so you're going to take my licence away anyway.

"My bike was broken down, and I thought I could get away with riding it, but I got caught."

All of the drivers, including those allowed to keep their licences, were also fined for the offences, according to their means.

On the same day, Lenice Murrain was banned from the road for a year after clocking up 48 points on his licence for failing to identify who was behind the wheel.