Richard Hammond fined £999 for speeding offences

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been fined £999 after being caught speeding twice in three weeks while driving luxury cars.

The 56-year-old was captured driving his Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo at 68mph in a 50mph limit on the A40 in Pencraig, Herefordshire on 2 December.

He was later clocked driving his Bentley Continental GT at 82mph in a 70mph limit on the M50 Rudhall Overbridge, also in Herefordshire, on 22 December.

Hammond pleaded guilty to two speeding charges through his solicitor. Two further charges that he had ignored the police letters and failed to identify himself as the guilty driver were withdrawn by police.

He was also given seven penalty points for his licence at the hearing last week.

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.

Documents from the case show Hammond was first caught speeding by a police officer with a handheld speed camera at just before 13:00 GMT on 2 December and again at about 11:45 on 22 December.

West Mercia Police sent speeding tickets to a Grade II listed Herefordshire castle bought by Hammond in 2012 and a £1m farm estate near Hereford, but the letters were returned marked as "addressee gone away".

He was eventually tracked down to his £2m home near Abergavenny in Wales where more than 30 vehicles were currently registered, the court heard.

Police also set out in the court papers that Hammond had been accused of another driving offence in August last year.

Hammond, who hosted the BBC's Top Gear show with Jeremy Clarkson and James May between 2002 and 2015, received a three-month driving ban in France in 2013 after he and Clarkson were caught speeding while making an episode of the show.

To the charges of ignoring the police letters and failing to identify himself as the guilty driver, he said in a letter to the court read out by his solicitor: "He replied identifying himself as the driver. He sent the reply by First Class post. He posted the reply himself."

The force ultimately opted to withdraw the extra charges, as Hammond was prosecuted and convicted for the speeding.

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