Six-month driving ban for speeding

Vera Baird, the former Labour solicitor general from Chadderton, was banned from driving for six months yesterday after reaching almost 100mph.

Top flight QC and former MP Ms Baird, 60, a former Chadderton Grammar School pupil, represented herself in court in an attempt to preserve her licence.

Magistrates at Pontypridd, south Wales, dismissed her arguments after she admitted driving at 98mph on the M4 near Miskin.

They gave her five penalty points which, added to seven already on her licence, triggered an automatic six-month disqualification.

Baird, of Crouch Hill, London, was also fined £400.