COURIER Philip Allison will be able to celebrate New Year knowing he still has a job after being spared a driving ban.

The 34-year-old faced two months disqualification for driving a Suzuki motorcycle without insurance which would have cost him his new job as a courier, High Wycombe Magistrates Court heard on December 19.

But magistrates imposed a more lenient sentence after his solicitor, Stephen Toghill, argued Allison had no choice but to ride his bike when his then ex-girlfriend threatened to scrap it if he failed to move it.

Allison, of Roundwood Road, Amersham, was convicted in his absence for driving without insurance and no MOT in Hazlemere, High Wycombe, on August 25, at an earlier hearing in November.

The father-of-one pleaded guilty to driving without insurance but the MOT offence was withdrawn when he produced a test certificate at the latest hearing.

The court heard Allison, who has substantial overdrafts and credit card debts, bought the motorbike in March. Shortly afterwards, Allison temporarily spilt from his girlfriend and moved out of the family home when she left him for his friend.

Mr Toghill said when Allison came to visit his child: "His girlfriend said 'take the bike or I will give it to scrap'. It was under that ultimatum that he took the bike out and drove it to a friend's.

Allison was given six penalty points on his licence and ordered to pay a £50 fine and £45 costs.