Worthing West MP Peter Bottomley has lost out on a prestigious award after he was banned from driving.

Mr Bottomley was reportedly one of the favourites to win the inaugural Parliamentarian of the Year award organised by Brake, a charity dedicated to cutting the number of road accidents.

But the plug was pulled when organisers realised the former Conservative minister had been banned from behind the wheel after totting up 12 penalty points in a three-year period.

Ruth Harper, policy officer at Brake, said: "Mr Bottomley has done a lot of work for us over the year and it is a shame he was banned."

While a transport minister, Mr Bottomley was one of the first politicians to introduce targets to cut road traffic accidents.

Ms Harper added: "If he had not been banned he would definitely have been in the running."

Mr Bottomley said: "I was asked if I would be available to attend the ceremony and accept an award. I told them there were some difficulties.

"The first was that I would be hosting a dinner at the same time and the second was that I had a driving ban coming up."