A former Hollyoaks and Footballers' Wives actress has avoided a driving ban after driving above the speed limit on Merseyside's most prolific speeding road.
Phina Oruche was caught speeding on Garston Way, on the Dock Road junction, that has been reported as being the road that catches drivers out more than anywhere else in Merseyside. The 52-year-old argued at Wirral magistrates court she needed her car to chauffeur her "gifted" 14-year old son to football practise.
The actress was facing disqualification under the totting up procedure after a speed trap camera caught her driving her blue Fiat 500 at 36mph and then 37mph in the same 30mph zone over a six week period earlier this year. But the star escaped a road ban.
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Oruche who played Gabby Sharpe in the Channel 4 soap and supermodel Liberty Baker in the hit ITV show said her son was a ''gifted'' footballer who hoped to be ''the next Cristiano Ronaldo'' after he landed two year contract with League two club Crewe Alexandra She said she needed to drive him to the club's training ground in Cheshire which is 38 miles from her family home in Liverpool and said: ''There is no way he is going intercity at 14."
She also claimed she thought she was in a 40mph zone at a set of traffic lights at the time she was booked and added: ''I am not falling out of a car drunk or speeding on the highway. I absolutely accelerated at that light because I thought I could. I'm not speeding all around Liverpool.”
It has been reported that more motorists get caught speeding at the Garston Way, Dock Road junction than anywhere else on Merseyside. Liverpool City Council said in February 2020 that a 30mph zone was extended beyond the junction which is believed to have caught many motorists out.
Oruche who admitted speeding was fined £40 and ordered to pay £134 in costs and victim surcharge but JPs accepted she would suffer ''exceptional hardship'' if banned and allowed to her carry on driving. The court heard the actress who is also a children's author and anti racism campaigner already had nine points on her licence when she was caught speeding on Garston Way, Dock Road, south Liverpool on January 14 and then February 27 of this year respectively.
But Oruche fought back tears as she told the hearing: "I have a 14-year-old son who is gifted athletically. He has a two-year contract with Crewe Alexandra, needs to be there four times a week to train and needs to go on long distance trips at weekends.
"He has worked hard since he was eight years old to get where he is. do not have to have a car for me, but I need a car for my son."
When asked if her son, who started out with Everton FC, could take public transport, she said: "Even though he is a gifted athlete, he's still a teenager and still needs his mum to make sure that is only playing football. There is no way he is going intercity at 14.
"He would probably have to drop out if I was disqualified. He would flatline. He wants to be the next Cristiano Ronaldo. I have worked really hard to keep him focussed and his passion is working out for him. It would seem a harsh step if he had to lose that."
Answering questions from prosecutor Iain Jones, Ms Oruche said she wouldn't be able to take him herself on public transport both because of the cost and an ongoing condition with her back for which she attends medical appointments. She said it wouldn't be practical to expect another team member's family to take responsibility to get him to all his training and games.
When asked about whether she need the car for her employment she said auditions are generally done online now, and that depending on the role and production she could be sent a car or have to drive herself. She said: "The world has changed, now you audition on your phone in your living room.
"Pre-Covid you would take a train to London but for the last three or four jobs for myself I auditioned in my living room. My last job I shot in Dublin and my next job I am slated for is in Scotland. It depends. I also do little bits and pieces."
Accepting her plea of exceptional hardship, magistrates chairman Peter Ashworth told Oruche: ''You have told us that your son's career would suffer potentially in the long-term and also in the short term.
"You also feel that he might go off track, if I can put it that way. You've also told us that you have medical issues for which the car is used. Further that you do use your car for business purposes, but they are more limited.
"Taking all this into account as well as your medical problems with mobility we are prepared to allow there would be exceptional hardship in this case."
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