TV presenter Richard Hammond has been fined and handed seven penalty points after being caught speeding twice in less than a month while driving a Porsche and a Bentley. The 56-year-old former Top Gear and The Grand Tour host was first clocked at 68mph in a 50mph zone on December 2 last year near Pencraig, Herefordshire, driving a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo. Just 20 days later, on December 22, he was caught again at 82mph in a 70mph limit on the A50 Rudhall Overbridge in Herefordshire, this time behind the wheel of a Bentley Continental GT.
Court proceedings and penalties
West Mercia Police brought two prosecutions against Hammond, using speed camera images as evidence. At Telford Magistrates' Court on July 22, he pleaded guilty through his solicitor to both speeding charges. 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. Hammond also received seven penalty points on his licence.
Police had difficulty locating Hammond to serve the speeding tickets. Letters were sent to a Grade II* listed castle in Herefordshire that he bought in 2012 and a £1 million farm estate near Hereford, but both were returned marked 'addressee gone away'. Officers eventually traced him to his £2 million mansion near Abergavenny in Wales, where more than 30 vehicles are registered.
Additional allegations and resolution
Hammond also faced two further allegations of failing to identify himself as the driver after ignoring police letters. In a letter to the court, his solicitor denied those charges, stating: 'He replied identifying himself as the driver. He sent the reply by First Class post. He posted the reply himself.' The police withdrew the extra charges after Hammond was convicted of the speeding offences under the Single Justice Procedure, a fast-track process for low-level criminal cases.
Hammond, nicknamed 'The Hamster' by co-stars, has a history of driving incidents. He nearly died in a 320mph jet car crash in 2006 while filming Top Gear, and in 2013, he and Jeremy Clarkson received a three-month driving ban in France after being caught speeding during a show episode.
