Lamela penalised for being too fast.. | Vital Football

Lamela penalised for being too fast..

Spursex

Alert Team
Spurs’ Erik Lamela banned from driving for six months after speeding raps



Tristan Kirk
@kirkkorner
16 minutes ago

Spurs’ goal of the season winner Erik Lamela has been banned from driving for six months after racking up 15 points on his licence.

The 29-year-old Argentine winger was caught speeding three times in the space of two weeks last May on a stretch of road close to Tottenham’s north London training ground.
He was spared a driving ban when he was sentenced, thanks to a flaw in the court system which meant magistrates were unaware of his driving record.

However Lamela’s case was reopened today and he was disqualified for six months, after the DVLA alerted Wimbledon magistrates court to the error.

Lamela, a rumoured transfer target for top Serie A clubs this summer, won Match of the Day’s goal of the season award this week for his ‘rabona’ strike against Arsenal.

The Evening Standard previously revealed how Lamela, his Spurs teammate Eric Dier, and the club’s former stars Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe were all caught out by a newly-installed speed camera in a 40mph zone on the A10 in Enfield last May.

Lamela’s Land Rover was clocked at 52mph on May 8, 48mph on May 13, and 48mph again on May 20, landing him with nine penalty points, £760 in fines, and costs and fees totalling £338.

But when each of the cases were dealt with - through the closed-door Single Justice Procedure - Lamela’s DVLA record could not be found and the magistrate opted to sentence him without it.

Courts are supposed to automatically consider disqualifying a driver when they receive 12 more points on their licence, but it emerged today that Lamela racked up a total of 15 points on his licence before the error was spotted.

Bizarrely, when the footballer was sentenced for the last of his three speeding offences, on January 27 this year, he was ordered to pay just a £40 fine because he had told the court in writing that his weekly wage was £60, rather than £60,000.

At that hearing, conducted behind-closed-doors, Lamela was already facing a driving disqualification but was once again sentenced in the absence of his driving record and the magistrate did not consider a road ban.
The footballer did not attend court today, and had not responded to letters sent to his north London mansion which warned him of an impending driving disqualification.

The Standard became aware of the faulty sentencing of Lamela in February, but questions to the DVLA went unanswered.
 
"Courts are supposed to automatically consider disqualifying a driver when they receive 12 more points on their licence, but it emerged today that Lamela racked up a total of 15 points on his licence before the error was spotted.

Bizarrely, when the footballer was sentenced for the last of his three speeding offences, on January 27 this year, he was ordered to pay just a £40 fine because he had told the court in writing that his weekly wage was £60, rather than £60,000. "

What a shambles.