A HEREFORDSHIRE business owner has escaped a roads ban to save his employees' jobs.

William Richard Reid entered a guilty plea to magistrates in Hereford.

The court heard the 28-year-old had been caught at the controls of a JCB on the B4204 at Berrow in Worcestershire without insurance on June 5.

Reid, of Woodend Street, Bromsberrow Heath, Ledbury, was fined £150 and received six penalty points, and must pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.

No totting disqualification was made as a roads ban would mean his three employees would lose their jobs, while financial agreements in the business would remain payable or cost to end early, making bankruptcy a real possibility.