Ferdinand faces driving ban

MAN UNITED defender Rio Ferdinand was facing a six-month driving ban yesterday after he was convicted of speeding.

The England star was clocked speeding at an average of 92mph on the M1, Leeds Magistrates Court was told.

Ferdinand, 24, who did not appear in court, denied exceeding the speed limit in his Cadillac Escalade on the southbound carriageway of the motorway near Temple Newsam, Leeds, on March 1 last year.

District Judge Roy Anderson told Ferdinand’s solicitor the footballer was required to appear later this month to hear his punishment and warned that under the “totting up” rules, a six-month ban was possible.

Ferdinand, of Linton Common, West Yorkshire, had nine points at the time of the offence for speeding and a fixed penalty offence.

Mr Anderson said it was unlikely Ferdinand could argue a driving ban would cause extreme hardship when he appeared in court on March 31.

Earlier, a policeman told how he spotted a vehicle travelling at speed in the outside lane.

Pc Geoffrey Bentley said: “I was observing traffic on the motorway for speeding vehicles and observed a black, large, 4x4 travelling in the third lane approaching my position.

“The vehicle appeared to be travelling at excessive speed. It was overtaking vehicles in the first and second lanes quite quickly.”

The officer told the court he used a Vascar unit to measure the vehicle’s speed and clocked it travelling an average of 92.26mph.

He added: “It (the vehicle) pulled off at the next junction rather sharply. It suddenly went from the third lane into the slip road without indication.”

Ferdinand joined Manchester United from arch rivals Leeds United for £30 million (43m) last summer, was stopped and told he would be prosecuted for breaking the speeding limit.

Barry Warburton, for Ferdinand, claimed the Vascar unit had not been properly set up.

In particular he claimed the officer had not used a proper reference point when measuring Ferdinand’s speed.

He added: “We don’t accept he was speeding. We say the measurement was fatally flawed. The test was defective in a number of ways.”