A SELF-employed builder escaped a driving ban for failing to stop at a level crossing after telling magistrates that he would not be able to honour house building contracts.

Robert Campbell, 61, of Harvester Close, March, admitted failing to stop at a red traffic light at the March South level crossing on October 20 last year.

He already had nine points on his licence, so could have been banned for six months as a “totter”, collecting 12 or more points.

Campbell told Fenland magistrates: “It was lack of concentration, it was a silly mistake.”

The court fined Campbell �173, put three points on his licence and ordered the payment of a �15 surcharge and �30 costs.

• MAGISTRATES have decided that a lorry driver who has denied a charge of obstructing a railway level crossing by his vehicle being stationary in Upwell Road, March, should face trial at Cambridge Crown Court.

Andrew Parker, of Plasset Drive, Attleborough, is due to appear at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court for a committal hearing on May 4.