THE Earl of Cardigan has had a 28-day driving ban lifted by a Swindon Crown Court judge.

The ban was imposed on the earl David Michael Cardigan, 50 by North Wiltshire magistrates in Chippenham in April, after he admitted driving without a valid licence, insurance or MoT for his Audi.

He was disqualified and fined £600 for the insurance offence, with further fines totalling £400.

But Judge Charles Wade yesterday overturned the ban and substituted six penalty points after hearing from Cardigan's counsel, Martin Picton, that it was the earl's first motoring offence and that he had mistakenly but genuinely believed he was insured.

The judge, sitting with two magistrates, said of the previous hearing: "We agree that somehow or other there was some confusion some information was given to the court that led magistrates to think that disqualification was appropriate. That just was not right."

The Earl, of Savernake Lodge, Savernake Forest said as he left court: "I'm very pleased with the result, which seems to be the proper outcome."

He had been stopped by police on the M4 at 9.20am on November 9 last year because his car's exhaust was loose.

It emerged that he was using a Jersey driving licence issued in 1978, which had become invalid after a year in Britain, although the earl insisted he had been unaware of this.

The Earl runs the Savernake estate owned by his family. His best-known ancestor led the charge of the Light Brigade in 1854.

during the Crimean War, in which British soldiers, although not the then Lord Cardigan, were cut down by Russian cannon fire.