Police spent weeks trying to track down Richard Hammond after driving offences
The former Top Gear host has been fined £999 by a court after he was caught speeding twice in the space of three weeks while driving his luxury cars
Police spent weeks trying to track down TV star Richard Hammond after he was caught speeding in his luxury cars, it has been revealed.
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The former Top Gear host has been fined £999 by a court after he was caught speeding twice over the course of three weeks while driving his Porsche and Bentley.
The presenter, known as part of TV trio alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May, was at the wheel of a Porsche when he broke the speed limit last December.
He was clocked doing 68mph in a 50mph zone on the A40 in Herefordshire in his Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo.
The 56-year-old was caught once again just 20 days later, going 82mph in a 70mph zone, while driving his Bentley on the A50 Rudhall Overbridge in Herefordshire.
Two prosecutions were brought against the TV personality by West Mercia Police, and supported with speed camera photos of him driving the cars in Herefordshire.
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Police spent weeks sending letters to Mr Hammond’s multimillion-pound property portfolio in an attempt to track him down, court papers reveal.
Officers sent speeding tickets to his Grade II listed castle in Herefordshire and a £1 million farm estate near Hereford – but both letters were returned as “addressee gone away”.
Eventually police located him at his £2 million mansion near Abergavenny in Wales, where over 30 vehicles are currently registered.
Mr Hammond pleaded guilty through his lawyers to two charges of speeding, and was handed seven penalty points on his licence at Telford’s Magistrate’s Court last week.
Magistrate Anne Minton ordered the TV star to pay a total of £1,771, comprising two fines of £333 and £666, £240 in costs and victim surcharges totalling £532.
He was caught out by a police officer with a handheld speed camera last December, court documents show.
Mr Hammond was also accused of another driving offence last August.
He was prosecuted for two offences of speeding and two further allegations that he had ignored the police letters and failed to identify himself as the guilty driver.
In a letter to the court, the TV star’s solicitor pleaded guilty to the speeding charges and denied the other two offences, writing: “He replied identifying himself as the driver. He sent the reply by First Class post. He posted the reply himself.”
The extra charges were withdrawn by police as Mr Hammond was prosecuted and convicted for the speeding offences in the Single Justice Procedure – a fast-track court process which permits magistrates to deal with low-level criminal cases from behind closed doors.
Mr Hammond was one of 39 defendants who were convicted of driving offences by Ms Minton during the court session on July 22.