Monty wins third speed ban reprieve thanks to Mr Loophole

Hates flying: Colin Montgomerie
Rashid Razaq12 April 2012

Golfer Colin Montgomerie has escaped a driving ban after speeding at 70mph in a 40mph zone.

The millionaire sportsman, 45, had faced a 56-day ban after he was clocked on the A3 near Kingston.

But his solicitor Nick Freeman - dubbed Mr Loophole for his ability to get the rich and famous off traffic offences - successfully argued that Montgomerie needed his car for his career, family life and charity work.

Montgomerie was caught by a speed gun as he overtook a lorry in his Bentley in March. It is the third time in four years that Mr Freeman has helped Montgomerie escape a driving ban for speeding.

Mr Freeman told the court that his client "typically drives 55,000 miles per annum and drives extensively at home and abroad.

"When he's abroad he drives as much as possible because he hates flying."

Montgomerie had been issued with a fixed penalty notice for just £60 and three penalty points. But because of his commitments connected to tournaments abroad and his upcoming marriage he did not pay it on time. Montgomerie appeared at Feltham magistrates court having just flown in from Hong Kong.

His argument that he should be able to pay the fixed penalty notice was rejected.

Montgomerie was fined £750 and ordered to pay £85 costs.

Magistrate Jagpreet Tucker told him: "We did have the discretion to disqualify you today but we listened very carefully to Mr Freeman'srepresentations."

After the court appearance Montgomerie, of Perthshire, Scotland, refused to comment but Mr Freeman said: "We are considering our position and we have 21 days to decide."

In September last year the golfer was in court for doing 88mph on the M80 near Falkirk in his £71,000 Lexus.

Mr Freeman argued that police had failed to serve Montgomerie with a summons to Falkirk district court within the specified six months. The case was dropped.

In 2004, after Montgomerie allegedly drove at 96mph in a 70mph zone of the A3 in his £90,000 Mercedes CL600, Mr Freeman again got his client off after one of the two officers who booked the golfer failed to turn up in court.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in