Sir Idris Elba has been found guilty and slapped with a fine after being caught exceeding a 20mph speed limit whilst riding his scooter in central London.
The acclaimed actor and DJ, 53, faced prosecution by the Metropolitan Police following a speeding incident that occurred last June. Sir Idris acknowledged being the rider, however contested that he had not received a fixed penalty notice from officers – thus being deprived of the opportunity to resolve the matter outside of court.
Following the engagement of specialist motoring solicitors to present his case before a magistrate, Sir Idris was slapped with a £147 penalty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
During proceedings held in private, the celebrity received three penalty points on his driving licence, whilst also being ordered to pay £110 in costs plus a £59 victim surcharge.
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Officers submitted three photographs to the court, demonstrating Sir Idris operating a scooter at 28mph along Chelsea Embankment close to Cheyne Walk, on a section of carriageway with a 20mph restriction.
The breach occurred just one day after it was revealed that the performer is working alongside the King on a Netflix production documenting 50 years of Charles’s charitable organisation The King’s Trust.
Towards the close of last year, it was declared that the Luther and The Wire star has been bestowed with a knighthood in recognition of his own philanthropic endeavours.
Based on court documentation, Sir Idris’ BMW moped activated a speed detection device at 10.12am on June 21 last year. “The speed recorded was 28mph on a 20mph road,” detailed a police statement.
A member of the police staff revealed that Sir Idris “confirmed that they were the driver/rider at the time” following correspondence from the police.
They further explained: “An automated eligibility check was completed on the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme database (NDORS).
“The driver/rider, Mr Idris Elba, was ineligible for a diversionary course.”
The police staff member disclosed that the actor was offered a fixed penalty to resolve the issue, but he neither paid it nor provided his driving licence details.
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However, Patterson Law, a firm specialising in motoring offences and representing Sir Idris, informed the court that the fixed penalty notice never reached him.
“Mr Elba initially responded to the Notice of Intended Prosecution to nominate himself as the driver and was expecting to receive a fixed penalty offer,” the letter states.
“However, the offer never arrived and he therefore never had the opportunity to accept it.
“Had he received it, he absolutely would have accepted it.”
The law firm confirmed that the actor, who holds a clean driving licence, was pleading guilty to the offence, thus avoiding the cost of a trial.
“We would ask the court to consider replicating the fixed penalty by imposing no more than a £100 fine, with no award for costs,” the letter concludes.
“He never received the fixed penalty – and this was through no fault of his own. It would therefore not be in the interests of justice to impose further financial penalties for something which was not his fault.”
The case was handled under the Single Justice Procedure, a streamlined system enabling magistrates to sit privately and resolve minor criminal matters using only written evidence.
Sir Idris was not obliged to appear in court for the sentencing.