Team GB sprinter Bianca William has been disqualified from driving, after she thrice failed to provide information about the driver of a vehicle.
Williams, 29, of Maida Vale, London, W9, was previously convicted of three offences of failing to identify the driver of a vehicle.
She appeared for an exceptional hardship hearing at Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court on Monday, 4th December 2023.
Magistrates heard that Williams, who was part of the bronze medal winning 4 x 100 metre relay team at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, had failed to identify the driver of a Tesla registered in her name on three separate occasions between April and June 2023.
Failing to provide information about the driver of a vehicle is an offence under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is a fine at level 3 (£1,000). The offence also attracts 6 penalty points.
Williams told Magistrates it would be "massively inconvenient" if she was disqualified and had to use public transport to get to her training sessions on the other side of the capital. Her training regime would suffer as a result and it would impact on her ability to compete in next summer's Olympic Games.
She also told the court that disqualification would mean she could work fewer sessions as a tennis coach, which would result in a drop in income.
Addressing Magistrates, she said: "I understand this is totally my fault, I shouldn't have relied on somebody else to fill out the (section 172) form.
"It's hard to get from nursery to training. My income would drop because I wouldn't be able to do any coaching sessions.
"It would be horrible to lose my licence. I would potentially have no work and no income."
Williams added that her partner was not always available to offer her lifts, as he was busy with his own athletics training regime and working as an Amazon delivery driver.
David Matthews JP, Presiding Justice, rejected Williams' application.
Addressing the sprinter, he said: "The bar for an exceptional hardship application is a high one. There are other means of transport."
Williams, who already had 11 points on her licence, was fined £276 and ordered to pay £110 surcharge and £85 towards prosecution costs.
Her licence was endorse with a further 18 penalty points and she was disqualified from driving for a period of 6 months under the totting up rules.
My personal view is that no-one living in London can genuinely claim poor public transport would result in exceptional hardship. In my part of the world the residents of some villages consider themselves lucky if they have any sort of bus service at all. Many have to walk miles to the nearest bus stop and most have to travel at least half an hour to the nearest mainline railway station.
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