A man who was caught speeding at 101 mph as his wife was about to give birth in the passenger seat has been slapped with a fine.
Despite a public outcry for the dad, who was doing his best in an emergency situation, Louis Baker, 30, was given five points on his licence and fined £390 - but it could have been as much as £2,500.
According to The Metro, Louis was caught by a speeding camera zooming down the M5 back in April before transporting his wife Laura to Worcestershire Royal Hospital, where their son Ellis was born.
Although Louis started off at a normal pace, when the contractions really started to kick in, he put his foot down on the wheel. Luckily the baby was delivered safely, but more trouble came afterwards.
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The dad was prosecuted for the speeding by Safer Roads Partnership - a joint force team for Warwickshire and West Mercia Police - and after the story was highlighted in the media, a public backlash saw many protesting the charges.
One Twitter user wrote: "Surely common sense should prevail. He was trying to save lives for goodness sake," while another commented: "More bureaucracy gone mad, he should be given an award for heroism not points on his license."
A poll conducted by Birmingham Live found that 52% of people believe he should not have been fined. Nevertheless, he was handed the charges at Kidderminster magistrates court.
His partner Laura told BirminghamLive: "Court went as well as it could do. Louis has been fined £390 and had five points on licence.
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"Better than the £2,500 and six points - but still a horrible ordeal hanging over our heads for the last six months."
Laura previously revealed how the pair were worried about getting to the hospital as quick as possible, as scans had shown their baby stopped growing at 36 weeks and so any delay could've been crucial.
She added: "We didn't want to delay getting to the hospital. I told Louis I was having contractions and we got in the car - we had about a half-hour journey down the M5 southbound.
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"I started to get very worried because the contractions were speeding up. They were coming every two minutes.
"My daughter had been born in 11 minutes so because of that, we really thought our new baby could come really quickly.
"Louis drove at 70mph for most of the journey but towards the end, because of the intensity of the contractions, I really thought the baby was coming.
"I was a bit all over the place with the pain and he sped up and was flashed at 101 mph on the very last bit of the journey.
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"Louis wasn't concentrating on his speed at that point, he was trying to stay safe on the road and get me to hospital as quickly as possible."
Although many were quick to criticise Safer Roads Partnership for prosecuting Louis, the organisation previously defended its actions in a statement that said: "Due to the speed involved this case is being referred directly to the Magistrates Court.
"The independent magistrates will take into account any mitigation presented when determining their decision on the matter."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: News, Dad, Speeding, Car, Labour