A motorist has avoided losing his driving licence despite him admitting doing 113mph on the A47.

Mark Venni, 46, of March, Cambridgeshire, was caught breaking the 70mph limit on a dual carriageway section at Terrington St John.

But despite his guilty plea, magistrates decided not to ban him from driving after he argued that it would mean he would no longer be able to drive his mother to visit his brother who is undergoing treatment at Addenbrooke’s hospital.

Norwich Magistrates Court heard being banned would also affect his company connecting gas supplies, putting the jobs of eight employees at risk, and his two children who live with him.

Venni, a single father, was driving a Mercedes car when it was caught by a speed check shortly before 3pm on May 8 this year.

He told the court he had been driving his elderly mother back from a visit to Hunstanton after she received a phone call about the ill health of his step-father who has subsequently died.

“I want to apologise for my actions and for driving stupidly on the day,” he said in a statement read out in court on his behalf.

“Unfortunately my mother received a phone call causing her distress that my step-dad had taken a turn for the worse.

“Having suffered from long-term dementia and cared for by my mum, he had recently been taken into a hospice.

“The day out had been to support my mum taking her to get some sea air in the hope of clearing her head of life's worries.

“This is by no means any excuse for my actions and on reflection I accept this is far from acceptable.”

Magistrates gave him six points on his licence and an £800 fine despite saying it was a “very high speed offence” that could have resulted in a lengthy ban.

“We took into account that you have a clean driving licence and this was a genuine emergency,” they said.

“There are also ramifications of you being disqualified for that length of time on your children, your employees and your mother.”