A driver who was caught speeding in Llangollen has failed in his bid to keep his license.

Peter Layton, formerly of Cwm Llan at Llangwm near Corwen was caught speeding for a fourth time when he was found to be driving his lexus at 38mph in a 30mph area in Llangollen on February 28.

Layton who said he now lived at Cemaes Bay, told a court how a ban would cause him exceptional hardship.

His son was due to start university in Cardiff in September and he and his wife were due to start a new business in the city, he explained.

It was a school in Cardiff Bay where he would be teaching, the family were selling up in North Wales and moving to Cardiff, and between now and October 1 he would need to drive to Cardiff once or twice a week.

It was too expensive to fly and he could not use public transport for the journeys, he said.

Once the school was up and running then it would be within walking distance.

But until then they would need to travel to the city regularly and his wife, who was American, was nervous about driving in the UK and did not like driving a night, he said.

Last Wednesday, Flintshire Magistrates’ Court at Mold was told that he had nine penalty points on his driving licence from three previous speeding offences – one in 2015 and two in 2016.

He admitted driving his Lexus at 38 mph in a 30 mph area at Berwyn Road in Llangollen, on February 28 but asked not to be banned under the totting up procedure.

He said he was not “a serial speeder”.

Magistrates rejected his claim of exceptional hardship, imposed three penalty points for the latest speeding, and banned him from driving for six months.

They said that a ban would clear cause inconvenience but he would not lose his job or his home.

Magistrates said that it gave them absolutely no pleasure to have to disqualify him and while the next few months were “going to be ghastly” he was going to have to make arrangements.