UK Immigration Minister Hit with Driving Ban After Being Caught Speeding

By Staff, Agencies

Conservative minister Robert Jenrick has been slapped with a six-month driving ban for speeding.

The MP for Newark, Nottinghamshire, was also fined £1,639 after previously admitting driving at 68mph in a temporary 40mph zone on 5 August 2020, the Courts and Tribunals Service Centre said.

Jenrick, 41, was travelling south on the M1 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, the Evening Standard reported.

The paper previously said Jenrick was fined £307 and handed three penalty points in March for speeding on the A40 in west London in August 2021.

For the latest offence, the minister was fined £1,107 and ordered to pay a £442 victim surcharge and £90 in costs, the court service 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, meaning the public and press cannot attend.

They also allow defendants to plead guilty or not guilty in writing, which meant that Jenrick did not have to attend court.

Responding to the sentence, Jenrick said: “I accept the court’s decision.

“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.”

He is not the only senior politician to be punished for motoring offences in recent months.

Rishi Sunak was fined by Lancashire Police in January for failing to wear a seatbelt while filming a social media clip in the back of a moving car.

The prime minister apologized for the “brief error of judgment” after the clip was posted to Instagram during a visit to the area.

And in November last year, security minister Tom Tugendhat was banned from the roads for six months after pleading guilty to using his phone while driving.

The Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling was caught by police with his phone in his hand while driving through central London in April.

The Home Office has also been contacted for comment.