Ban for Telford racing driver caught doing 121mph on single-carriageway road
A racing driver from Telford who was caught speeding at 121 mph on a 60mph stretch of road has been banned from driving.
Robert Paul Smith, 24, a Bentley Motors mechanic and a driver for the Mini UK Racing Team, admitted breaking the 60mph limit on the A5 between Ty Nant and Dinmael, North Wales, in his Volkswagen Golf early one Sunday in February.
Smith, of Farr Lane, Muxton, was banned from driving for 28 days and fined £500, with £85 costs and a £50 surcharge
None of the three magistrates on the bench had heard of such a high speed on a single carriageway road in all their careers, they said.
At Flintshire Magistrates Court, sitting at Mold, Smith was told that they had take into account his early guilty plea and remorse but it had to be an immediate disqualification.
Prosecutor Alun Williams said that it was at 8.40am on February 14 that the vehicle was caught at double the speed limit by a police speed camera van.
An aggravating feature was that 250 yards further on was a sign warning that pedestrians may be crossing, he said.
Defending barrister Julian King said that his client knew that the speed was unacceptably fast. It was, he said, a total lapse of judgement but an isolated one.
The offence occurred on a long stretch of road in the countryside on a quiet Sunday morning when there were no other vehicles about. He said the conditions were clear and dry.
His client was normally a very responsible young man, said Mr King. He had a BA degree and MSc in engineering and worked for Bentley Motors, and he was said to be an integral part of the design, manufacturing and testing department at Crewe.
Smith was a young man who travelled throughout the UK and abroad with his work, often to remote locations.
"He is conscious of the fact that he has let himself down and is conscious of the effect that it may have on his employers," he said.
The other passion in his life was his racing – he was a driver with the Mini UK Racing Team.
Mr King asked the court to consider six penalty points – which would take him to nine – which would act as a "Sword of Damocles" over him.
