Former Top Gear host Richard Hammond fined for speeding
Richard Hammond, known for Top Gear and The Grand Tour, has been fined and given penalty points for two speeding offences within three weeks while driving his luxury cars.
Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been fined £999 by a court after being caught speeding twice in three weeks while driving his luxury cars. The 56-year-old was driving a Porsche when he broke the speed limit on 2 December last year, and was caught again 20 days later while behind the wheel of a Bentley.
West Mercia Police brought two prosecutions, using speed camera images of him driving in Herefordshire to prove the offences. Hammond, who co-hosted Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May from 2002 to 2015 before the trio launched The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, pleaded guilty through his lawyers to both charges.
At Telford Magistrates' Court last week, he received seven penalty points on his licence. Magistrate Ann Minton ordered him to pay a total of £1,771, comprising two fines of £333 and £666, £240 in costs, and victim surcharges totalling £532.
Court documents show that on 2 December at around 1pm, Hammond's Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo was clocked at 68mph in a 50mph zone on the A40 in Pencraig, Herefordshire. On 22 December at about 11.45am, his Bentley Continental GT was speeding at 82mph in a 70mph limit on the A50 Rudhall Overbridge in Herefordshire.
Police sent speeding tickets to a Grade II* listed Herefordshire castle Hammond bought in 2012 and a £1m farm estate near Hereford, but the letters were returned marked 'addressee gone away'. They eventually tracked him down to his £2m mansion near Abergavenny, Wales, where more than 30 vehicles are now registered. Police also noted that Hammond had been accused of another driving offence in August last year.
