Speeder, 75, who struggled with Zoom pays the price

AN ELDERLY motorist has been given her first driving licence penalty points after struggling to complete an online speed awareness course on Zoom.

Marilyn Carrick, 75, who admits she “struggles with computers” failed to complete the online test three times due to technical problems.

The great-grandmother was caught by a speed camera driving at 35mph on a 30mph road in her automatic Peugeot 3008 on March 3.

The grandmother-of-seven, who was also fined £100, was told she would have five months to complete a speed awareness course with the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme.

Due to lockdown, she was told she had to complete the course via video conferencing platform Zoom.

She said: “It’s so frustrating. It just seems so unfair.

“My husband and I are not really technical people, but in this case I did my best because I didn’t have a choice.

“But in the end, I had no option but to pay the fine and take the points.”

On her first attempt, she was not even able to get accepted into the Zoom call to take the course. The second time, the Zoom host could see but could not hear her and, on her third try, the host could hear her but could not see her.

She added: “I phoned the police to see if they would extend this date, but they wouldn’t.”

Norfolk Police said: “As a result of the pandemic, all class-based speed awareness courses were suspended in March and instead replaced by online/ virtual courses via Zoom.”