Tory peer Zac Goldsmith has been banned from driving after being caught speeding 11 times in less than two years. The ex-cabinet member, 49, was also ordered to pay £8,200. In one case he was travelling at 75mph in a temporary 50mph zone on the M4, Westminster Magistrates Court heard. He broke speed limits in his hybrid electric Volkswagen
golf on
London roads in Paddington,
Chelsea and Twickenham between April and November 2023. He was also caught speeding on two motorways, most recently in December, the court heard. As he disqualified Goldsmith from driving, District Judge Daniel Sternberg warned that drivers who speed "emit more harmful emissions" even in hybrid and electric cars. Goldsmith, who tried to become London Mayor back in 2016, was previously spared a driving ban after racking up 12 points on his licence after being clocked four times between May 2022 and March last year. Despite this he went on to get caught speeding seven more times. He was ordered by District Judge Daniel Sternberg to pay £5,500 of fines for his latest seven offences, on top of a £2,000 victim surcharge and £700 in costs. The court heard that in April last year, Lord Goldsmith was caught driving at 29mph in a 20 zone on Chelsea Embankment, and in July he drove at 28mph in a 20 zone near Kensington Gardens. In May, August and November of the same year, he broke the 40mph limit on the A316 in Twickenham by twice driving at 46mph and once at 47mph. He was also caught driving at 62mph in a 50 zone at the M25 intersection with the M3 in December, and at 73mph between junctions 20 and 19 of the M4 in September -
BREAKING a 50mph temporary speed limit. Goldsmith had been banned from driving since January, when an interim disqualification was imposed. Benjamin Waidhofer, defending, said Lord Goldsmith had shown "remorse" for his offending and is "not someone who is manifestly defying the usual speed limits". He quit the cabinet in June last year with a brutal swipe at Rishi Sunak's environmental record. The Tory peer announced his resignation a day after he was named and shamed for attempting to undermine a Commons probe into Boris Johnson's Partygate lies. In a damning two page letter Goldsmith accused the Prime Minister of being "simply uninterested" in environmental issues. But Mr Sunak struck back, saying he was quitting after being told to apologise for a tweet that suggested the investigation into Mr Johnson was a "witch hunt". "You were asked to apologise for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a Minister of the Crown. You have decided to take a different course," he wrote. Join our Mirror Politics
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