‘Well-known’ footballer passed police car at 125mph
A “WELL-KNOWN” footballer could face a driving ban after it was alleged he passed a marked police car at 125mph.
Officers pulled the sports star over between junctions 22 and 20 of the westbound carriageway of the M25, after he was spotted driving at high speed and undertaking on the slip road on Sunday morning.
Dashcam footage of the manoeuvre was posted on Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing’s official Twitter page, which purports to show a Mercedes weaving its way through traffic.
The video carried the caption: “Having just overtaken a marked police X5, this somewhat well-known footballer decided 125mph and undertaking on an off slip of the M25 was OK.”
The force signed off the tweet with the hashtag “taxi to training”.
Hertfordshire Police confirmed an unnamed man in his 30s from London was reported for summons for excessive speed following the incident on Sunday morning. He will appear at magistrates’ court at a later date when he receives his summons in the post, a spokeswoman told The Daily Telegraph.
The video was deleted from the social media platform, but the force updated its followers with another message hours later saying: “This one has garnered some interest. Just to confirm we are unable to name the driver for legal reasons. However, it isn’t any of those mentioned.”
If found guilty, the footballer could lose his licence for up to 56 days and face a fine of 175 per cent of his weekly wage. With top Premier League footballers earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a week, the figure could potentially top £500,000.
The Premier League clubs Watford and Arsenal have neighbouring training grounds within a stone’s throw of junction 22 on the M25, while north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur are located three junctions and around 13 miles to the east.
Earlier this year, David Beckham avoided a speeding fine after his lawyer, dubbed “Mr Loophole”, argued that despite driving too fast, the notice of prosecution was defective.