A HIGH-FLYING sales executive caught speeding in his Jag was allowed to keep his licence after magistrates heard a ban would cost him his £150,000 a year job.

Blackburn magistrates heard David John Woodcock was clocked doing 78 mph in a 50 mph zone on the A666 at Darwen. But instead of a ban the magistrates hit him with a £1,000 fine and endorsed his licence with six penalty points.

Woodcock, 49, of Little Scotland, Blackrod, Bolton, pleaded guilty to speeding. As well as the fine and points he was ordered to pay £165 costs.

Kristian Cavanagh, defending, said his client was employed as sales director for an American firm which had its UK base in Reading.

As a result he has to drive the length and breadth of the UK and travel extensively in Europe.

He said without his licence Woodcock would not be able to do his job and, because he had only been with the firm for five and a half months, they would be unlikely to keep him on.

He said despite his salary Woodcock would not be in a position to employ a driver.

“He is going through a protracted and extremely difficult divorce settlement,” said Mr Cavanagh.

“He has two houses in Bolton, one of them occupied by his ex-wife, and also a two bedroom flat in London which cost £619,000 and is heavily mortgaged.”

He said the Jaguar Woodcock was driving had been recently acquired and was more powerful than the one he had been used to.