An agency health carer from Falmouth won a reprieve from long-term disqualification when she attended Truro’s magistrates’ court charged with driving without insurance.

Amanda Black, aged 47, of Stratton Terrace, pleaded guilty.

Alison May, for the CPS, said Black had been without insurance on her car from November, when it was cancelled due to lack of payment, until February when a police officer stopped her.

Black was told by legal advisor Paul Miles that she could lose her licence as a totter, as she already had eight points on it.

She told the magistrates she had moved house and had not received information from her insurance company that the policy was cancelled. She said without her licence she would be in difficulty getting to work as she could be called to cover shifts anywhere between Penzance and Launceston for which she needed her car.

The magistrates disqualified her for four weeks saying they understood the social benefit of the work she did.

She was fined £100 and £50 costs and surcharge.