A delivery driver has been landed with 78 points on his driving licence after he was caught by the same speed camera 26 times in just three months.
Phillip Dodd, 63, was repeatedly flashed by the Gatso as he drove his works van at speeds of between 56mph and 63mph along a 50mph stretch of the M62 motorway near Manchester.
Dodd claimed he never received any Notice of Intended Prosecutions (NIP) from police as the Citroen Berlingo van was not registered in his name.
It was only when he moved in with his partner that he registered the van in his name with the DVLA - and 26 separate speeding tickets dropped through his letter box.
At Tameside magistrates court, Dodd, of Collyhust, Manchester, who has since been signed off sick with early stage Parkinson’s Disease, admitted 26 charges of speeding but insisted he was not a dangerous driver.
He was banned from driving for six months although it is thought the points will drop off his licence at the end of his disqualification.
The court heard Dodd was caught speeding between April and July 2020 whilst travelling Westbound and Eastbound near Junction 11 of the motorway.
In one week he was caught four times and another occasion he was flashed twice on the same day.
He told the court: “I have no previous speeding convictions and I’ve worked out my average speed when I was caught was 56.76 mph. I was starting around 8pm and finishing at 6am and quite often there weren’t any vehicles in sight.
“I was often the only vehicle driving home at 6am. I was signed off sick in October 2020 as I received a diagnosis of early-stage Parkinson’s.
“Although I am responding well to treatment, I am not returning to my past job. In fact I have taken it upon myself to renew my gas safety license and become self-employed.”
He added: “The van wasn’t in my name and that’s why I kept on getting tickets and not knowing I was getting them. Twelve weeks later, I got 26 letters through the post. When I realised, I contacted Swansea DVLA and told them the situation. I am not a dangerous driver.”
Dodd’s partner who declined to give her name to the court, told the hearing: “When we moved in together, it was only at that point when he registered for the vehicle. He then contacted the DVLA and it was only afterwards, now that it had been registered to Phillip, that he got all these fines. He wasn’t aware due to failing to register the vehicle.
“It was a schoolboy error. He travelled the same route since 2015. It seems this came to light when we moved house and contacted the DVLA.”
Dodd was also fined a total of £520 - £20 for each speeding offence - and was ordered to pay £142 in costs and surcharges.
