Pop-singer Jamelia has been slapped with a driving ban and fined £500 after she was caught driving without any insurance – because she thought it would be renewed AUTOMATICALLY.
The Loose Women panelist wept in the dock after she was hauled before magistrates where she begged not to be banned from the roads as it would leave her unable to do the school run.
The court heard she was stopped by police on the A491 in Hopwood near Bromsgrove, Worcs., on August 24 last year.
The Brit-award winner was found to be driving without any insurance and told officers she had bought her last policy online and presumed it would be renewed by itself.
Police also found her £25,000 Ford S-Max Titanium TDCi had two tyres with insufficient tread and a third with a lump, bulge or tear.
On Monday she appeared at Redditch Magistrates Court under her real name Jamelia Davis.
The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle without third party insurance and for having two tyres with insufficient tread and a third with a lump, bulge or tear.
Magistrates handed her 45-day driving ban and also fined her £455 and ordered to pay £60 in costs.
Chair of the bench Peter Jewell told her: “This could have been very dangerous – driving a car in this condition – especially for your children.
“We recommend that you find someone to look at your car as soon as possible.”
The mum-of-two had tearfully asked JPs not to ban her from the road after claiming she had no friends or family who could take her children to school.
Despite earning £80,000 before tax last year Jamelia claimed her unreliable income meant she could not afford to pay £70-a-day taxi for her two children.
She said as a self-employed, freelance, singer, television presenter and actress she could not guarantee where her next pay cheque would come from.
Jamelia also argued there were no available school bus services and to catch the train and walk a five-mile round trip everyday would be particularly hard on her children.
She refused to comment as she left court.
The popstar was born in Smethwick, Birmingham, and began her professional music career in 1999.
She has released three studio albums which have all reached the Top 40 in the UK and had eight top ten singles in the British chart.
Her biggest hits Superstar and Thank You charted at number three and number two on the UK Singles Charts respectively.
She has been a frequent guest on the satirical music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks and has been a regular panelist on ITV1 chatshow Loose Women since November last year.
Jamelia is not the only one of her family to have been in trouble with the law.
In 2010, her step-brother Tobias Rowe was caged indefinitely after shooting a man during race riots.
Rowe – a leading member of Birmingham’s notorious Burger Bar gang – was jailed for a minimum of 12 years after being found guilty of attempted murder over a 2005 shooting.
The singer’s half-brother Tumbi Beckford is serving life for murder after a teenager was shot in 2003.
