A WOMAN with her sights set on becoming a taxi driver was banned from driving for six months by magistrates in Swindon.

Chelsea Marie Sabin, 23, of St George’s, Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to driving without insurance at Avebury on June 21.

The police prosecutor told the court Sabin had been driving her Citroen C3 on Green Street, Avebury at the junction with the A361 when she was stopped by police and asked to produce her insurance.

She told the officers she had insurance, a black box, but police checks revealed she did not.

Sabin, representing herself in court yesterday, told the bench she thought her mother was paying the insurance.

“We got our wires mixed up,” she said.

She added that her job as a telephonist for a taxi company required her to be able to drive as she often started work at 6am, when there were no buses running.

She said she was in discussions with her manager about becoming a taxi driver.

Endorsing Sabin’s licence with six penalty points, chairman of the bench Diana Crockett told Sabin that it was her duty to make sure she was insured before driving.

“Ignorance of the law is no defence,” Mrs Crockett said.

With six points already on her licence, Sabin was disqualified from driving for six months.

She was fined £150, reduced to £100 for her guilty plea, and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £30.