Ex-Top Gear Host Richard Hammond Caught Speeding Twice in 20 Days While Driving Porsche and Bentley Luxury Cars

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond was caught speeding twice in 20 days while driving a Porsche and a Bentley in Herefordshire, and has now been fined and given penalty points by magistrates in Shropshire, according to West Mercia Police and court records.

Documents from Telford magistrates' court show Hammond was first stopped by a handheld speed camera shortly before 1pm on 2 December last year, when his Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo was recorded at 68mph in a 50mph limit on the A40 at Pencraig in Herefordshire.

Just under three weeks later, at about 11.45am on 22 December, his Bentley Continental GT was clocked at 82mph in a 70mph limit on the A50 Rudhall overbridge, again in Herefordshire. Both offences were prosecuted by West Mercia Police, which submitted speed camera images of Hammond behind the wheel.

Fines and Penalty Points

Hammond did not attend court in person, instead pleading guilty through his lawyers to two charges of speeding.

At the hearing last week, magistrate Ann Minton imposed seven penalty points on his driving licence and ordered him to pay a total of £1,771, made up of fines of £333 and £666 for the two offences, £240 in costs and victim surcharges totalling £532.

Police Faced Delays Serving Paperwork

The speeding incidents were only part of the story. West Mercia Police initially struggled to serve Hammond with routine paperwork following the offences.

Notices of intended prosecution were sent to a Grade II-listed castle in Herefordshire that Hammond bought in 2012 and to a £1 million farm estate near Hereford, but both letters came back marked 'addressee gone away'.

Officers eventually traced him to his £2 million mansion near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, where more than 30 vehicles are registered in his name.

Because of the difficulties with the post, Hammond was also charged with two counts of failing to identify the driver, on the basis that he had ignored police correspondence.

In written representations to the court, read out by his solicitor, Hammond insisted he had complied: 'He replied identifying himself as the driver. He sent the reply by First Class post. He posted the reply himself.' The force ultimately withdrew the additional allegations, leaving only the speeding matters to be sentenced.

West Mercia Police also noted in the court papers that Hammond had been accused of a separate driving offence in August last year, though no further details of that allegation were released.

On-Screen Motoring Career and Past Incidents

The 56-year-old fronted the BBC show alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May from 2002 to 2015 before the trio moved to Amazon with The Grand Tour, building a career out of driving fast cars for television.

Hammond nearly died in 2006 when a jet-powered dragster crashed at close to 320mph during filming for Top Gear, suffering a serious brain injury and spending weeks in hospital.

In 2013, while filming another episode of the programme, Hammond and Clarkson were banned from driving in France for three months after being caught speeding there.

This time there were no cameras rolling and no production crew involved, just a familiar name in the court listings and two high-performance luxury cars. The case was dealt with through the magistrates' court process, resulting in fines and penalty points for the two speeding offences.