A man who usually drives a speed-limited van got caught going 130mph down the M1.
Jonathan Sutton, of Nottingham Road, Long Eaton, was heading home from a job in Oxford when police officers found him speeding between Lutterworth and Leicester.
The court heard how the sub-contractor was followed by officers for three quarters of a mile at a speed of 130mph at about 10.30pm on August 5 last year.
Leicestershire Live reports how Sutton recently bought a Mercedes-Benz C and was used to driving a 60mph speed-limited van.
The 41-year-old admitted speeding when he appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Michael Little, representing Sutton, told the court his client did most of his travel for work in a Ford Transit van, which was limited to 60mph. He said that since being pulled over, Sutton had sold the recently-bought Mercedes for about £29,000 less than he had paid for it.
'He's very apologetic'
Urging the magistrates to keep any disqualification to a minimum, Mr Little said: “He is working at this moment in time in Birmingham, six days a week, as a supervisor on the railways.
“He’s very highly thought of and that’s why he gets contracts up and down the country, as well as local work.
“He has a team of four he has to transport and none of these are able to drive themselves.
“He usually drives in a Ford Transit six-seater and it is restricted to 60mph.
“On this occasion he was coming back from Oxford in his own Mercedes – it’s a very high performance spec."
He added: “His biggest concern is what will happen if there is a lengthy disqualification. There’s going to be a problem with members of his team getting around – they have equipment to transport as well.”
Mr Little said that in 20 years of driving – and currently doing about 31,000 per year - Sutton had never had any other driving offences recorded against him.
He said that since being pulled over, Sutton had kept out of trouble and had even paid for two of his four employees to start learning to drive to ensure they could carry on working on his contracts instead of losing their employment.
Mr Little said: “He says they’re good lads and they’ve never done anything to deserve it.”
If Sutton were given a short disqualification, Mr Little said, he could afford to hire a driver to take his team to work while he took some extra holiday.
“He’s been actively thinking about this and it’s been causing him a huge amount of upset," he added.
“He’s very apologetic and now only has this Transit vehicle, which is restricted.”
The magistrates agreed to limit the disqualification to 28 days.
They also ordered Sutton to pay a £154 fine, £85 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.
