England Footballer Jermain Defoe Fined for Speeding
Source BBC, 4th January 2010
Jermain Defoe Premier League footballer has pleaded guilty to speeding while driving at 45mph in a 30mph zone in Anglesea Road in Portsmouth, on 8 May 2008.
The England and Tottenham Hotspur striker did not attend the hearing at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court, but admitted the charge through his barrister Dean George. He denied a second charge of failing to give details, which the prosecution then dropped.
Defoe who is 27, was fined £400, ordered to pay £45 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and given four points on his licence.
Already Disqualified
The court was told that Defoe is already disqualified from driving for six months for other speeding offences.
Mr George said of this offence, which involved a Land Rover 4x4:
"It was 1.08am, there was no other traffic on the road, there were no other aggravating features."
Defoe's other driving offences were four points for speeding on 4 October 2008 and six points for speeding on 18 April 2009.
He was disqualified from driving for six months on 14 July 2008 and received a further six-month ban on 10 July 2009.
Road safety campaigners have criticised the level of the latest fine and said Defoe should have been more responsible. |
 For a footballer who earns thousands a week to be given a fine of just a few hundred pounds - it is not much of a deterrent. 
|
|
A spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said: "It's setting an extremely bad example when someone who is looked up to by many people obviously has no respect for the law and safety of others on the roads.
"We would like to see courts being able to link fines to how much offenders earn."
Please click to see a recent example of a speeding fine being linked to earnings in Switzerland
|
