A town mayor has been fined £200 after charging a learner driver for lessons - even though she was not an authorised instructor.

Now Jeanette Rickus-Prosser, the 49-year-old mayor of Abingdon, has been told she will never achieve her ambition of becoming an approved driving instructor (ADI).

She admitted charging £15 a driving lesson over a three-month period while she had no authorised instructors licence.

The town's first citizen also admitted not being on the Driving Standards Agency's register of ADIs when giving learner driver Vicky O'Connor lessons between December 1997 and March this year.

The Agency has confirmed that, as a result of her conviction, she will now never be accepted as an ADI in the future.

Magistrates at Abingdon yesterday rejected her plea for an absolute discharge, despite hearing her tell the court in a written statement: "I will lose my potential livelihood."

Rickus-Prosser told the court an unintentional mistake had led to her not realising she did not hold a licence authorising her to give instructions.

The court heard that Miss O'Connor had received driving instructions after answering an advert in Yellow Pages for the Abbey School of Motoring.

The advert, which listed Rickus-Prosser's address in Spring Road, Abingdon, also carried an Authorised Driving Instructors logo. David Pomphrey, an examiner with the Vehicle Inspectorate, told the court that inspectors were called in after Miss O'Connor became suspicious of Rickus-Prosser's qualifications.

In her statement to the court, Rickus-Prosser added that, although she was pleading guilty, she had not realised she was not authorised.

The court heard she had passed two preliminary exams in August and October last year, and had subsequently been advised to apply for a trainee driving instructors licence. She claimed her ex-fianc, a fully qualified ADI, had applied on her behalf and she assumed everything was okay. The couple have now split up and her former fianc has moved out of the area.

However, in March this year, Miss O'Connor challenged Rickus-Prosser, claiming she was not properly qualified. Rickus-Prosser said she contacted the DSA as a result and was surprised to find that was true.

Rickus-Prosser said: "My situation is worse now than it was at the time because I am now qualified but not regis- tered.

"Although I am guilty, I was under the mistaken impression I had a trainee licence."

She added that the slightest fine would affect her chances of being included in the register of ADIs - despite having passed the qualifying exam on May 18.

That fear was confirmed by the DSA.

A spokesman said: "We are aware she has qualified. The fact she has been prosecuted and convicted of this offence, though, means we would refuse an application to become an ADI."

She was fined £200 and asked to pay an additional £55 in court costs.

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