TV star Guy Martin banned from driving for six months after speeding on Honda motorbike
TV star and speed enthusiast Guy Martin has been banned from driving for six months.
The star of Channel 4’s Speed With Guy Martin has been banned from driving for six months after he was twice caught breaking the law on his Honda motorcycle. Martin, 44, has been prosecuted by Northamptonshire and Leicestershire police forces after he triggered speed cameras.
Through letters from his lawyers, Martin admitted riding his bike at 46mph on the A50 near Leicester when the limit was 40mph, and going at 78mph along the A43 near Brackley when a temporary 50mph limit was in place. Court papers show Martin reached at least 12 penalty points on his licence and he accepted that he must now serve a six-month driving ban.
The first speeding offence took place on July 15 last year in Leicestershire while riding his motorbike along the A50 just before 5pm. He was then caught speeding on the same bike on a temporarily speed-restricted A43 in Brackley near to HS2 roadworks at 9.24am on March 19 this year.
“He apologises to the court for his offending,” a partner at law firm Chattertons wrote on Martin’s behalf. “As a consequence of being convicted of the two offences, Mr Martin will fall to be totted up. He will not be opposing the totting up six-month disqualification.”
Martin’s prosecutions were brought through the Single Justice Procedure and dealt with in private by a magistrate. An official said Martin was sentenced at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court last week, with an order to pay a total of £1,329 in fines, costs and victim surcharges.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months, after his lawyers indicated he would not seek to avoid a ban by arguing exceptional hardship, and was happy for the case to be dealt with in the absence of an open court hearing.
The TV presenter achieved 17 podium finishes at the Isle of Man TT race during his career as a motorbike racer, and he has become known for his pursuit of speed records. In 2016 he made a bid to break the two-wheeled world land speed record, and he succeeded in setting world records for the fastest tractor, speediest soapbox, and fastest speed on a gravity-powered snow sled.