Director's driving ban is cut to save jobs
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• Haulage company director Maxwell Downton had his six-month driving disqualification shortened today after he told Gloucester Crown Court that the ban could cost his firm business—and jobs. Downton, operations director of Downton Haulage Contractors, was banned under the totting up regulations for his fourth speeding offence in three years. He was clocked at 73mph in a 50mph limit on 16 October last year. South Gloucestershire magistrates
banned him for six months after hearing that he already had 10 points on his licence. But last week he successfully appealed against the ban on the grounds of the exceptional hardship it was causing him and his firm.
Downton told the court that the family Firm, of which his two brothers are also directors, employs 120 people and operates 80 trucks, 160 trailers and a warehousing division.
It has premises in Moreton Valence, Haresfield and Cheltenham which he regularly has to visit. His job makes it necessary for him to travel all over the country to see clients, he said, and he has to go to the office at short notice and at all hours to sort out problems such as vehicle breakdowns. After hearing about the consequences, Judge Paul Barclay cut the ban to four months. He told Downton that he was allowing the appeal "with some hesitation and as an act of some charity."