A newly qualified driver faced instant disqualification after cameras caught her speeding twice in the same day and on the same stretch of road.
But Sarah Louise McGowan, a 22-year-old single mother from Peterlee, County Durham, escaped with a £60 fine, 28-day driving ban, three points on her licence and the promise of a hefty mark-up on her online car insurance premium.
Ms McGowan received two seemingly identical letters demanding speeding fines shortly after 14th February, when the incidents took place. She paid the first fine and wrote to police regarding the second, which she thought was a duplicate.
At the hearing which followed, Ms McGowan defended her right to drive. "Just three days prior to this incident I split up from my husband, and I have a two-year-old bairn to look after," she said.
"I shouldn't have been speeding, but my mind was elsewhere at the time."
Given the circumstances, magistrates decided to impose three points and 28-day driving ban rather than all six outstanding points - six being the number at which young driver licences must be revoked.
Speed limits on the Easington Road in Hartlepool, where the offences took place, have recently been relaxed from 30 to 40 mph. Ms McGowan was travelling at 37 mph when she was caught.
Although magistrates were lenient in her case, Ms McGowan will certainly face disqualification for any future speeding offences and her conviction will make it much harder to find a cheap online car insurance quote at renewal time.