Richard Hammond slapped with speeding fines but denies ‘failing to identify himself as guilty driver’

Richard Hammond has been fined a whopping £999 by a Shropshire court after being caught speeding twice in three weeks.

The former Top Gear presenter, 56, was in his Porsche last December when he was snapped speeding by West Mercia police in Pencraig, Herefordshire.

20 days later, he was spotted speeding again while driving his Bentley, leading to the local force bringing two prosecutions against him.

Hammond pleaded guilty through his lawyers to the two charges and at Telford Magistrates Court last week, he was issued seven penalty points on his licence.

The magistrate, Ann Minton, also ordered him to pay two fines – £333 and £666 – as well as £240 in costs and victim surcharges totalling £532.

Court documents show Hammond being caught going 68mph in a 50 by an officer with a handheld speed camera just before 1pm on December 2, 2024.

He was then seen on December 20 at 11.45am in his Bentley Continental GT, speeding at 82mph over the A50 Rudhall overbridge, a 70mph zone.

Some confusion came after the tickets were sent to Hammond’s Hereford home, a Grade II listed farm estate.

It was reported last year that Hammond’s ex-wife Mindy wanted to secure their £7million Bollitree Castle in the divorce.

The 18th-century home, which the couple purchased in 2008, has six bedrooms, a swimming pool and a whopping 20 acres of land.

The letters were apparently returned marked ‘addressee gone away’, with the TV star instead tracked down at his Abergavenny mansion, worth £2million.

He bought the six-bedroom Georgian property in Monmouthshire in 2012, and has over 30 vehicles registered there.

Hammond was also prosecuted for two further allegations that he had ignored the police letters and failed to identify himself as the guilty driver.

In a letter to the court, the presenter’s solicitor pleaded guilty to the speeding charges and denied the other two offences, writing: ‘He replied identifying himself as the driver.

‘He sent the reply by First Class post. He posted the reply himself.’

The police force opted to withdraw those extra charges, as Hammond was prosecuted and convicted for the speeding offences in the Single Justice Procedure – a fast-track court process which allows magistrates to sit behind closed doors to deal with low-level criminal cases.