Court rules Kirkby cancer survivor can keep driving

Cameron Mitchell was stopped for having a faulty brake light on Lowmoor Road, on March 5, when the officer discovered he was driving without insurance or a licence.

Sarah Neale, mitigating, urged magistrates not to ban her client.

She said he had been diagnosed with liver cancer three years ago, and received a transplant five months ago.

“He has been in and out of hospital a number of times,” she said.

“On this day he was struggling with asthma and had a virus. He went to collect shopping.”

The court heard he qualified as a driver in the 1980s, but was banned until he passed an extended test, and it took him until September this year to regain his licence.

He has regular follow-up appointments at the City Hospital, and the Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham, and at a hospital in Cambridge where the operation was performed, Ms Neale explained.

Mitchell, 61, of Edward Street, admitted the motoring offences, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on September 21.

On Wednesday, he received the minimum penalty of six points, and was fined £120, with £85 costs and a £30 government surcharge.