A POWYS speeder has been disqualified from driving for six months after a court found his business would not suffer extreme hardship if he were to lose his licence.

Father-of-two Edward Brent Simpson put forward an exceptional hardship argument at Welshpool Magistrates Court earlier this week, claiming the business, which manufactures office desks in Newtown and has been struggling financially for a few months, would face further difficulties were he to lose his licence.

The 29-year-old, of The Laurels, Llandyssil, Montgomery, pleaded guilty to speeding at an earlier hearing in June.

The offence relates to an incident in Newtown on December 10 last year, when Simpson was caught driving his Audi e-tron on Heol Ashley, on Newtown’s Mochdre Industrial Estate, at 45 miles per hour in a 30mph zone, at 3.23pm.

Magistrates on Tuesday, July 27, heard Simpson had nine points on his licence at the time, but six had subsequently come off in the last eight months.

Simpson told the court he travels all over the UK for work and that he is the only person in the company that has experience with the technicalities of the products they sell.

“I run a small company in Newtown, we started at the end of 2017 and we manufacture office desks,” he said.

“There are 16 employees including myself. I visit suppliers and customers and negotiate deals. We have made a loss the last two months; now with things opening up it’s a real opportunity to change that.

“No-one currently in the company could do the job I do. Suppliers are European-based mainly or in the south of England and customers are UK-based, all over, including Scotland, Ireland and London.

“It’s not a predictable job and we are not forecast to make a profit, I’m just trying to do everything I can to change that.”

Simpson, who admitted he had been receiving treatment for ADHD and anxiety since the start of the year, added: “I was driving too fast, I fully accept responsibility, I was not concentrating.”

Magistrates rejected his exceptional hardship argument, with chair Rebecca Klug telling him: “We do not find exceptional hardship. We believe you can make relative adjustments within your business. We do not think the evidence heard today warrants exceptional hardship.”

In addition to being banned from driving for six months, Simpson was fined £150 and must pay £85 costs and a £34 surcharge.