By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has been slapped with a six-month driving ban after travelling at almost 30mph over a temporary speed limit on the M1 last year.
The government minister was also fined a total of £1,639 at a court hearing today after previously admitting to travelling at 68mph in a temporary 40mph zone,
It was between junctions 18 and 17 on the southbound M1 last August, the Courts and Tribunals Service Centre said.
The case was dealt with through a Single Justice Procedure at Northampton Magistrates’ Court, which allows a magistrate to rule on criminal cases seen as minor in a closed court.
It means the public and press cannot attend, and they also allow defendants to plead guilty or not guilty in writing which meant that Jenrick, 41, did not have to attend court in person.
Responding to the sentence, Jenrick told the PA news agency: “I accept the court’s decision.”
He said: I was driving below the national speed limit on an empty motorway, with no road works in sight.
“I now understand that a variable speed limit had been applied, which I didn’t see. I wouldn’t knowingly exceed the speed limit.”
The MP for Newark, in Nottinghamshire, was travelling after an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at Wakefield Cathedral when he was caught by a speed camera in his Land Rover at around 11.30pm on August 5, the Evening Standard reported.
The Evening Standard had previously said Mr Jenrick was fined £307 and handed three penalty points in March, for speeding on the A40 in west London in August 2021.
He was fined £1,107, and ordered to pay a £442 victim surcharge and £90 in costs.
By Callum Parke, PA
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