A top Premiership footballer has lost his right to a cheap car insurance deal after admitting in court that he drove at nearly 100mph along the busy A1.
29-year-old midfielder Lee Bowyer was clocked by an unmarked police car doing 99mph in a silver Porsche 911 near Morpeth, Northumberland, in July 2005, and pleaded guilty to the offence in front of magistrates at Hexham.
The bench rebuked the Newcastle United player, banned him from the road for six weeks, fined him £650 and ordered costs of £100 to be paid.
Magistrates heard that Bowyer had received a driving ban in Leeds nearly four years ago after totting up too many penalty points for a series of motoring offences, and was also disqualified for 42 days in March last year when police spotted him doing 96mph.
Bowyer, who has been capped once for England, was British football's most expensive teenager when he signed for Leeds United from Charlton Athletic for £2.6million in the summer of 1996, and his career has been marred by controversy both on and off the field.
He has hit the headlines for drug abuse, alleged racist attacks and drunkenness, and in April 2005 was involved in an astonishing brawl with a team-mate during a high-profile Premiership match, resulting in a three-match ban, huge fines and a court appearance.
A spokesman for Hoot Car Insurance Services, the young driver car insurance experts, commented, "Mr Bowyer will struggle to find a cheap car insurance deal with such an appalling driving record, but I doubt that someone who earns as much money as him will really care."