Crime Author Lynda La Plante Banned from Driving for Six Months

Best-selling crime author Lynda La Plante has been disqualified from driving for six months by a London court. The 83-year-old screenwriter, best known for creating Prime Suspect's Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, told Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court that a driving ban would end her writing career.

Emotional Plea

La Plante told the court she needed her car to meet criminals and sources for research into her fiction, and to drive her guard dog Theo for daily walks in Roehampton Playing Fields. She said the emotional turmoil of having to rehome her dog would cause her to “just stop” writing. However, magistrate Mandy Lamplough ruled she had not demonstrated sufficient “exceptional hardship.”

Verdict and Sentencing

La Plante pleaded guilty to breaking the 20mph speed limit near her home in Kingston-upon-Thames five times between November 2025 and April 2026, driving at speeds of 24–27mph. The offences brought her total licence points to 24, having already accumulated nine points from earlier offences. She was fined £3,330, ordered to pay £130 costs and a £1,332 victim surcharge.