Intranetics Motoring News Service

Mr Loophole scores a Top Gear victory

21st November 2006 | BACK     PRINT

Famed lawyer Mr Loophole has helped another celebrity clear their name of a speeding conviction.

Former Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell was cleared yesterday of speeding by magistrates in Pontypridd.

Although his BMW 550i Sport supercar was filmed 21 mph above the speed limit, he told magistrates that he could not remember who was driving it at the time, having not received any police requests for information until two months after the event.

Pontypridd Magistrates' Court heard that the BMW was recorded at 91 mph on the M4 motorway in south Wales in May this year.

However, celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman, who has helped high profile clients such Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson avoid past speeding convictions, argued that there was no evidence against the Fifth Gear presenter and the case should be dropped.

Mr Needell, 55 from Shrewsbury, claimed that the first he heard about the offence was on July 13th, when he received a letter from the police informing him that he had not replied to a previous request to name the driver.

The television presented denied prosecutor Alex Dubljevic's claim that he had simply ignored the first notice sent in May and was asked if it was possible he had put the prosecution notice "to one side" and forgotten about it.

Mr Needell replied: "No. As soon as the following one came up I went straight for legal advice."

As evidence of his trustworthiness, he told the court that he had received a speeding notice four years ago, which he had paid promptly and accepted the penalty points, which have since been cleared from his licence.

Mr Needell told the court: "I never received the original letter from the police and then months later I was told I had failed to comply.

"I am a man of good character and I find it insulting to my character to suggest I didn't deal with the letter when it arrived.

"I just never received it and I have no idea who was driving that car on the day it was photographed."

Mr Freeman told Pontypridd magistrates: "My client is a man of good character who is much more likely to be telling the truth than not."

Magistrates cleared Mr Needell of the charges, with magistrate Binky Thomas telling him: "You're evidence has been consistent and truthful".

Mr Needell began his career in the 1980s as a motorsport commentator with the BBC. He then spent 14 years as a presenter on Top Gear, before the show was temporarily cancelled in 2001.

He has since presented Fifth Gear on Five, as well as promoting the Road Angel device, which warns drivers about approaching speed traps.

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