A young mother grieving over the loss of her boyfriend has been spared a driving ban after she was hauled into court for speeding tickets he ran up before his death.
Victoria Woodall, 26, of Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, was left devastated when her partner Stuart Moxon died unexpectedly in his sleep just days before she discovered she was pregnant.
But in the run up to his death Mr Moxon had twice been caught speeding in the couple’s Audi A4 car and police sent letters to Ms Woodall asking who was driving the vehicle.
Victoria Woodall, 26, of Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, was left devastated when her partner Stuart Moxon died unexpectedly in his sleep just days before she discovered she was pregnant
When she failed to respond to the letters she was charged with two offences of failing to identify the driver of the car – and as a result faced a road ban under the totting up procedure as she already had six points on her licence.
At Manchester magistrates court, Ms Woodall admitted the charges but judges accepted her plea for ‘exceptional hardship’ after hearing her heartbreaking story.
She gave birth to the couple daughter last July.
Chair of the bench George White told her: ‘We are sympathetic to the situation you are in. We can accept what we have heard and there is no reason to believe that you are being dishonest as you have sworn an oath to confirm all of this is true.’
The court heard the car was caught speeding twice in three days in Manchester and last January Ms Woodall told Mr Moxon to ‘sort it out’ as they were his speeding offences.
In the run up to his death Mr Moxon had twice been caught speeding in the couple’s Audi A4 car and police sent legal letters to 26-year old Ms Woodall asking who was driving the vehicle
But just days later Mr Moxon passed away suddenly from a suspected respiratory problem without the speeding tickets being addressed.
As well as discovering she was pregnant, the court heard she was also a carer for her father who is in remission from cancer and her mother who has Parkinson’s disease.
Her lawyer Roger Taylor told the hearing: ‘She found out that she was pregnant with her partner’s child subsequent to his death and there were big changes for her. It has been a very hectic year.
When she failed to respond to the letters she was charged with two offences of failing to identify the driver of the car – and as a result faced a road ban under the totting up procedure as she already had six points on her licence
‘These proceedings have been a year long but on the day of a hearing last October was coincidentally when her father was having an operation on that day.
‘The doctors suggested that the operation was very serious and he was not expected to survive it. It is as simple as that and doctors can be very blunt. There was an adjournment. The illness in the family is the problem situation.
‘She lives with her six month old daughter and has an older child who is eight.
‘She has got those girls ad she is single handed looking after those two. That is a job enough for anyone and without the use of her vehicle she wont be able to visit her parents and support them.
‘She is an only child and her father has cancer and has to have chemotherapy.
‘The cancer is in remission and the operation was a glowing success after being told it would finish him off. But he has to go to chemotherapy once a month with transport that the hospital provides.
‘That is okay but he has a number of other doctors appointment during the course of the month and that is where daughter comes in.
‘She comes for him and takes him across to the doctors appointments. She comes and takes care of them. Her mother has Parkinson’s disease and also has a tumour on her foot which affects her mobility.
Ms Woodall will still have 12 points on her licence but was not banned. She was fined £360
‘If my client lose her license she would be isolated which is hard enough. It is not just herself that has exceptional hardship but her parents. If she was unable to get to her parents then her parents would become isolated in their own home.’
Ms Woodall will still have 12 points on her licence but was not banned. She was also fined £360.
Last October she told of her heartbreaking at losing Mr Moxon in an interview with her local paper. ‘I found out we were having a girl before his funeral. I spent the majority of my pregnancy on my own but having the baby gave me a part of him.
‘It has been incredibly hard. I miss him every day but now I have hope again because of our daughter.’