A married mother-of-five who was caught speeding five times in just 19 days has been banned from the roads after mistakenly thinking a temporary speed restriction had ended.
Nurse Natasha Hubble, 36, told magistrates she needed her car because her businessman husband was too ‘tied up’ with work to drive their family around – but she was still banned from driving for six months at Tameside Magistrates’ Court.
Hubble was caught in an NHS fleet BMW 220D M Sport Auto on a temporary 50mph stretch of the M62 motorway near Manchester between September 3 and September 22, 2020.
She clocked speeds of 58-63mph between Junctions 11 and 12 of the motorway in Salford after mistakenly believing temporary restrictions had ended.
The aesthetics specialist urged JPs not to ban her saying she clocked up almost 600 miles a week travelling to work, doing the school run and taking her 10-year-old son to football matches around the North West of England.
She said her family ‘relied’ on her and claimed her husband Chris, 37, who is the director of an engineering firm, was ‘not much assistance’ because he was busy with his own 7.30am starts.
Nurse Natasha Hubble (pictured), 36, told magistrates she needed her car because her businessman husband was too ‘tied up’ with work to drive their family around – but she was still banned from driving for six months at Tameside Magistrates’ Court
Hubble said her family ‘relied’ on her and claimed her husband Chris (pictured together), 37, who is the director of an engineering firm, was ‘not much assistance’ because he was busy with his own 7.30am starts
Her lawyer Charles Stansfield told the hearing: ‘Her husband works as a refrigeration and air conditioning service engineer who travels throughout the North West. When these offences took place, he was based in London doing his work. He works from 7.30am and gets home as late as 8pm.
‘He is on shift one week in every four 24/7 for emergencies. He is not completely useless but he is tied up doing his own occupation and is not of much assistance to her.
‘She and her family pretty well rely on her ability to drive. She has many, many years with no points at all. There was a reason as to why she committed these offences. It all happened over a very short period of time and now her family life is seriously in jeopardy.’
Hubble admitted speeding but claimed she and her family would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ if she were to be banned from driving. A magistrate told her ‘we have heard hardship and inconvenience but not exceptional hardship’.
Hubble, of Knowsley, Liverpool, was also fined £476 with £142 costs.
Mr Stansfield said all the offences were committed on both the Westbound and Eastbound carriageways before she received the first notice.
He said Hubble had carried a clean driving license for 14 years and needed her car to travel to her job as a non-invasive aesthetics expert at Aintree hospital in Fazakerley, Liverpool.
Hubble (pictured) admitted speeding but claimed she and her family would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ if she were to be banned from driving. A magistrate told her ‘we have heard hardship and inconvenience but not exceptional hardship’
She was also responsible for bringing her five children, aged two, six, 10, 13 and 15 to school and back with three different drop offs.
He added: ‘She was travelling in a temporary speed limit zone. There were no road works and traffic was flowing. It was nowhere near a 50mph zone and she presumed because there were no road works, that limit was no longer enforced.’
Mr Stansfield said Hubble did an average of 577 miles in her car each week. He said her son plays football for Blackpool academy and needs to get to training at Myerscough College twice a week, which is a total of 130 miles.
‘She said he played a match at Carlisle which that week was 214 miles. She says she travelled 52 miles for her academy job, 12 miles for her shift at the hospital and 70 miles for her mobile aesthetics plus 8.8 miles to take her son to football. This is pretty well an average driving week, maybe slightly less because of the trip to Carlisle.’
He added that Hubble is a bank nurse with Aintree hospital with an overnight shift once a week. She also runs a mobile business tutoring her specialism.
‘They are hoping to get a premises but at the moment, she delivers the product in person, which is another reason why she needs to be able to drive.
‘She is desperately sorry for the situation she has got herself in. She has asked me to ask you not to ban her at all. She will not commit anymore offences as she knows what she has done. She will not be before the courts again.’
But JP Maxine Hamer told her: ‘The bench takes speeding very seriously. We have heard a lot about your family circumstances and how you work for yourself and your husband as well as your travel.
‘However, you have failed to meet the threshold needed for exceptional hardship. We have heard hardship and inconvenience but not exceptional hardship.’