A TAXI driver narrowly avoided being stripped of his driving licence after he claimed his family would suffer if he was not able to work.

Abdul Shafic, 36, told Southampton magistrates how he wouldn’t be able to afford the rent on his home he shared with his wife and four children if he lost his job. He also explained how he was largely responsible for taking his children to school due to his wife suffering from a vertigo condition that left her suffering migraines nearly every day and that she was reliant on him to take her to the doctors.

Shafic, of Hartington Road, Southampton, drove through a red light – an offence which would attract points on his licence, which was already endorsed with nine points for several speeding offences and which would have led to an automatic ban.

He admitted failing to stop at a red light at Northam Road on May 26, claiming he was on his way to take a woman to the city’s maternity unit, but pleaded a case of exceptional hardship that others would suffer if he lost his livelihood should he be disqualified and be unable to work.

Magistrates accepted his case and instead of a ban fined him £83, put three points on his licence,and ordered him to pay £335 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.