A SPEEDING motorist, who spurned a £100 fixed penalty offer, ended the saga with a £480 court bill.

James Wilson was clocked by police driving his Dodge Nitro vehicle at 40-miles per hour on a 30-limit stretch of Cockhouse Lane, leaving Ushaw Moor, near Durham, on August 22 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that he was offered a £100 fixed penalty, with three points on his driving licence, in lieu of court proceedings if he accepted he was speeding.

But, the court was told in subsequent correspondence with the police, Wilson stated: “I do not have the time, nor the interest, in indulging in the silliness of a court appearance regarding the alleged offence.

“All papers regarding such have been shredded and disposed of.”

The case, therefore, went before North Durham magistrates last month, and, as Wilson failed to attend, it was heard in his absence.

He was convicted, fined £400, with a £40 statutory surcharge and £85 costs, as well as receiving three penalty points on his licence.

Appealing against the sentence at the crown court, Wilson, of Pringle Grove, New Brancepeth, near Durham, said he felt the fine was excessive, given he was only just above the speed limit, not far from a 40-mph stretch of road, in a rural setting.

Having heard evidence of his income, Recorder Simon Jackson, sitting with two magistrates, adjusted Wilson’s fine to £150, reduced the surcharge to £15, but maintained the £85 costs order imposed at the magistrates’ court.

But they added a further £230 order for the costs of today’s hearing, giving a total charge of £480, £45 less than the final bill imposed by the magistrates.