A CONSERVATIVE councillor has been banned from driving after being caught speeding for the fourth time in three years.

Two days after being named deputy leader of the Conservative group on Swindon Council, Roderick Bluh, pictured right, was given a three-month ban and fined £75 at Carmarthen Magistrates' Court.

He was also ordered to pay £35 costs during the case on Thursday.

He said: "I accept this penalty and I accept that it is fair.

"I will obviously be very much more careful in future to avoid a repetition.

"I was caught, like numerous others. I was driving at 41mph in a 30mph area.

"Speed limits are there to be obeyed and if you break them you pay the penalty.

He added: "I haven't robbed a bank or murdered anyone. To err is to be human."

Coun Bluh has been caught speeding four times in three years.

He said: "Not being able to drive for three months will be very testing."

Council leader Mike Bawden said he didn't think the conviction would affect Coun Bluh's ability to do his job as a councillor.

He said: "He's not the first councillor to be banned from driving and he probably won't be the last.

"This personal problem has nothing to do with his duties as a leading councillor in this administration."

Councillor Bluh is disabled as a result of back injuries sustained in a car crash in 1996. He has had two operations on his back since then.

In December he told the Evening Advertiser that he was first caught speeding in January 2002.

In November 2003 he was caught by a mobile camera at Coate Water driving at 55mph or 56mph in a 50mph zone.

He said that in February last year he was caught driving just above a 50mph limit in Bath while overtaking a lorry that had pulled out in front of him.

At that time he told the Advertiser that the number of speed cameras on the roads meant drivers were constantly checking their speedometers instead of concentrating on the road.

Coun Derique Montaut (Lab, Moredon) said: "On the council we spend money on measures to reduce speeds.

"Councillors are like any member of the public and do get caught speeding from time to time.

"But to consistently do it warrants examination of his conduct."

David Andrew