Football star Harry Maguire was banned from driving for 56 days yesterday after admitting speeding at 85 mph in a 50 mph zone near the same spot Cristiano Ronaldo crashed a Ferrari in 2009.
The Manchester United and England defender did not attend at Bolton magistrates court where he was also fined £666 and ordered to pay £386 in costs and a court surcharge.
Prosecutor Karen Allanson said that Maguire was caught by a speed camera on Wilmslow Road near Manchester airport on March 5 last year. It was the first of two speeding offences in three days for the 31-year-old who was also caught driving at 68mph in a 60mph zone in his native Sheffield.
Wilmslow Road is the same road Ronaldo, then a 23-year-old Manchester United star, crashed his £200,000 Ferrari without sustaining any injuries in 2009.
Maguire was ordered to pay a total of £1,028 in fines and court costs when he pleaded guilty at Sheffield magistrates in September last year.
His solicitor Gwyn Lewis told the court that Maguire, 31, had been unaware that he had been caught on camera on March 5 when he was stopped in Sheffield on March 7 and not have been aware that he was liable to disqualification.
He said that Maguire had already had three points on his licence from an offence in March 2021 and there was an 11-day period when penalty points from all three offences would have given him 12 points and triggered a six-month disqualification.
Mr Lewis said Maguire accepted that he had been driving ‘too fast’ but said he had not been able to take a speed awareness course for the Sheffield offence because he had been out of the country when the course was available.
Football star Harry Maguire (pictured) was banned from driving for 56 days yesterday after admitting speeding at 85 mph in a 50 mph zone
It was the first of two speeding offences in three days for the 31-year-old who was also caught driving at 68mph in a 60mph zone in his native Sheffield
Wilmslow Road is the same road Ronaldo, then a 23-year-old Manchester United star, crashed his £200,000 Ferrari (pictured) without sustaining any injuries in 2009
He asked the magistrates to impose a discretionary ban of 56 days as well as a fine rather than a six-month ban which could have been imposed for having 12 points on his licence.
Prosecutor Ms Allanson said that the police were unable to give Maguire a fixed penalty due to the high speed on March 5. He had pleaded guilty in October and sentence was adjourned until yesterday.
Mr Lewis said that Maguire was ‘a public figure and a footballer’ and accepted that he had been driving ‘too fast’ in his £200,000 Range Rover.
He said that the road was a dual carriageway for a short distance which ran underneath the runways at Manchester airport and Maguire was caught as he emerged from the tunnel.
He said it was ‘a slightly complicated case ‘ in terms of penalty points because there was an 11-day period in March when he would have had 12 penalty points.
Mr Lewis said: ‘In March he was offered a speed awareness course but he could not attend because he was out of the country so his licence was endorsed.
‘It is unfortunate that he was unable to take up the speed awareness course.’
He argued that the magistrates could exercise their discretion to impose a short discretionary ban of 56 days rather than a six month ban for 12 points.
It was reported in 2009 that Ronaldo had imported the car from Portugal just two days prior, before it was totalled
Onlooker Jody Lomax told the BBC at the time: ‘The Ferrari went straight into the wall, his front left-hand wheel came off and then Ronaldo (pictured) got out of the car’
Chairman of the bench Mark Hardman said: ‘We have looked carefully at the speed and the area and we have listened to what has been said. In this case we are prepared to exercise our discretion due to Mr Maguire not being in the country and not being able to take the speed awareness course.’
Maguire was banned for 56 days, fined £666 and ordered to paid £266 in costs and a surcharge of £120.
It was reported in 2009 that Ronaldo had imported the car from Portugal just two days prior, before it was totalled.
Onlooker Jody Lomax told the BBC at the time: ‘The Ferrari went straight into the wall, his front left-hand wheel came off and then Ronaldo got out of the car.
‘I was shocked. Anyway he was all right, he was walking – he was a bit shaken. Obviously I was stunned at seeing a Ferrari go in the wall and seeing Ronaldo.
‘He was obviously shaken, who wouldn’t be? It’s a shame about the car as well.’
Mr Lewis said: ‘There is no pavement and there are no pedestrians.’
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