Banned, the BMW driver who clocked up 150 points

... and £15,000 of speeding fines!

‘Already disqualified’

A MOTORIST has been fined more than £15,000 after totting up what is believed to be a record 150 points on his licence.

Marius Balan’s BMW was caught 30 times by speed cameras on the same stretch of road over just five months.

Police notices were sent to him asking him to identify the driver.

But the 25-year-old failed to respond and he was given six penalty points and £660 fines for 23 of the offences of failing to provide information – a total of 138 points and £15,180 in penalties.

As he already had 12 penalty points on his licence, it meant he was left with 150 points – beating what was thought to be the previous record of 144 points.

Magistrates also handed him a 30-month driving ban and ordered him to pay £1,955 costs and a £66 court surcharge.

Balan was summonsed for 23 offences of speeding on the 70mph limit A12 dual carriageway south of Ipswich and failing to provide information.

He failed to attend the hearing at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court and was dealt with in his absence.

Magistrates withdrew the speeding offences and sentenced him for the more serious charges of failing to provide information.

His BMW was clocked being driven between 79mph and 93mph on a two-mile stretch of the northbound carriageway of the A12 between Stratford St Mary and East Bergholt on four occasions last July, twice in August and six times in September. It was caught four times at between 80mph and 83mph on the opposite carriageway in the same period.

Magistrates also agreed to deal with three further offences last October and four in November. Balan, of Ipswich, failed on each occasion to fulfil a legal obligation on the owner or keeper of a vehicle involved in an alleged offence to give information on the identity of the driver, under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Failure to comply with the requirement can lead to six points and a fine of up to £1,000 for each offence.

The court heard Balan had already been disqualified for nine months on December 13.

This involved other offences for which he totted up more than 12 points.

Magistrates said he was a persistent offender who had failed to respond to letters and turn up to court. The previous licence points record is thought to have been held by 27-yearold Ashley Peart, of Westcliffon-Sea, Essex.

He clocked up 144 points in August 2018 for repeatedly failing to identify the driver of a speeding vehicle.

Four cars registered in his name had been caught speeding 24 times.

He was fined £1,490, banned for three years and ordered to pay court costs of £800 and a victim surcharge of £30 by Southend magistrates.