Soccer pundit let off driving ban to avoid going on bus

FOOTBALL pundit Robbie Savage has managed to escape a driving ban – by telling a court he has to avoid public transport in case he meets angry supporters.

Savage was caught driving at 99mph in his £230,000 Bentley on a 70mph stretch of road near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

Prosecutor Neil Stickland said the 40-year-old BBC Match of the Da y pundit, pictured, was caught travelling ‘excessively above the speed limit’. He added: ‘ Savage said he was rushing to get home to his children after Alan Shearer’s charity function which had raised a considerable amount of money.’

Phili p Morris, defending, insisted his client was not ‘trying to name drop’. But commenting on his ‘ Marmite’ reputation, he said: ‘He is a name, I’m sure he is familiar to you. When you are in the public eye and have to offer opinion on people’s football teams you are regularly accosted when you are out in public.

‘As a consequence, the car provides something of a safe haven when getting from home to work and to charitable functions.’

He said the former Welsh international was ‘genuinely anxious’ about losing his licence. But magistrates in Northallerton let him stay on the road, giving him six penalty points, a £600 fine, £85 in court costs and a £60 surcharge instead.