(Image: Natasha Pszenicki / UKPEG / PA)
Richard Hammond has spoken out on his speeding conviction and court fine.
The former Top Gear host, who moved to Ripon when he was a teenager, was fined £999 by a court after he was caught speeding twice in the space of three weeks while driving his luxury cars.
Mr Hammond, 56, was at the wheel of a Porsche when he broke the speed limit on December 2 last year, and he was caught out again just 20 days later while driving a Bentley.
Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Hammond, who attended Ripon Grammar School, said: "I think I need to [be more of a pootler]. I'm not going to speak out against speed limits at all.
"They're a good thing, it was my mistake. The number on my dashboard was bigger than the number on the little sign. My error."
West Mercia Police brought two prosecutions against Hammond, putting forward the speed camera images of him driving the cars in Herefordshire to prove the offences.
Court papers also reveal how police spent weeks sending letters to Hammond’s multimillion-pound portfolio of homes in a bid to track him down.
The presenter, who hosted Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May between 2002 and 2015 before the trio launched The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, pleaded guilty through his lawyers to two charges of speeding.
At Telford Magistrates’ Court, he was handed seven penalty points for his licence.
Magistrate Ann Minton ordered him to pay a total of £1,771, comprising two fines of £333 and £666, £240 in costs and victim surcharges totalling £532.
Documents from his court case show Hammond was caught out by a police officer with a handheld speed camera at just before 1pm on December 2 last year.
His Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo was clocked at 68mph in a 50mph limit on the A40 in Pencraig, Herefordshire.
At around 11.45am on December 22, Hammond’s Bentley Continental GT was speeding at 82mph in a 70mph limit on the A50 Rudhall Overbridge in Herefordshire.