Minister Penny Mordaunt is fined £568 for speeding in London

2023-02-09

Minister Penny Mordaunt is fined £568 for speeding in London, becoming latest senior Tory to break the law

Miss Mordaunt, 49, admitted breaking 40mph speed limit in Putney, last July
She was fined £568 by a magistrates’ court and had 3 points put on her licence

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is the latest senior Tory to break the law after she was fined for speeding in London.

Miss Mordaunt, 49, admitted breaking the 40mph speed limit in Putney, south-west London, last July, just days before she announced her bid to become Prime Minister.

The Cabinet minister was convicted of the offence at Lavender Hill magistrates’ court last week, where she was fined £568.

She also had three penalty points added to her licence and was ordered to pay £90 in costs and a £227 victim surcharge.

Miss Mordaunt’s case was dealt with through the closed door single justice procedure after she entered a guilty plea in writing

Miss Mordaunt admitted driving a Mini Cooper S at 49mph along the A3 near Tibbet’s Corner in Putney, south-west London on July 4 last year, according to court papers.

What are Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs)?

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) have been around for more than 50 years and are used for a wide range of anti-social behaviour offences, public disorder offences and environmental offences such as littering as well as for many motoring offences.

An FPN is a conditional offer – you can accept guilt, pay the fine, take the points and the matter will be closed, or you can reject the offer in which case you’ll be summonsed to appear in court.

For drivers, FPNs are widely used to enforce ‘moving traffic offences’ like:

Speeding
Traffic light offences
Restricted turns
No entry, and
Box junctions

Source: AA

Her conviction is the latest legal difficulty to afflict the Conservative Party, with various senior Tories including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak all receiving fixed penalties in the last year.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat was banned from driving for six months last November after he was caught using his mobile phone while driving.

Mr Sunak paid a £100 fixed penalty notice last month after a video appeared on social media where he was riding in the back of a car in Lancashire without a seatbelt on.

He and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson were also fined last year during the Partygate scandal for attending a gathering at Downing Street which broke Covid regulations.

Tory peer Lord Soames, who is Winston Churchill’s grandson, is also facing a driving ban after being convicted for speeding while driving a BMW in Twickenham.

Mordaunt’s offence happened just days before Boris Johnson quit as Prime Minister, sparking a leadership race featuring Mordaunt, Tugendhat, Nadhim Zahawi, Sunak and won by Liz Truss.

She made a second bid for the leadership after the fall of Truss, but was defeated by Sunak, who kept her on in his Cabinet as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons.

MailOnline has approached Miss Mordaunt for comment.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat was banned from driving for six months after he was caught using his mobile phone while driving

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