Best-selling crime writer Lynda La Plante broke down in tears after pleading with a court not to ban her from driving. But her plea for leniency was dismissed at Lavender Hill magistrates' court in south-west London, and she was handed a six-month driving ban. La Plante pleaded guilty on Monday to breaking the 20mph speed limit near her home in Kingston-upon-Thames five times between November 2025 and April this year. La Plante bluntly told the court she would wind up her writing company if banned, putting four staff members out of work. La Plante, who created hit robbery TV series Widows in the 1980s and brought Prime Suspect to the screen in 1991, was awarded a CBE in 2008 for services to literature, drama and charity.