The most senior British policeman on traffic issues was fined £500 yesterday for failing to identify the speeding driver of one of his force's cars. Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, had to mount a prosecution against himself after a speed camera caught the vehicle travelling at 47 mph in a 40 mph zone. Extensive investigations failed to disclose who was at the wheel of the unmarked car at the time of the offence on a dual carriageway. Mr Hughes, who is also the Association of Chief Police Officers' traffic spokesman, pleaded guilty to failing to supply the details. In a letter to Rotherham magistrates, he said: "We were given the task of trying to identify the identity of the driver, but despite diligent inquiries I was not able to do so." The court imposed the fine, but was informed by the clerk that penalty points could not be imposed on the Chief Constable because he was "akin to the managing director" of a company. advertisement Of 161 marked police cars caught speeding by cameras in the county last year, 147 were not prosecuted. Thirteen officers paid fixed penalty fines and one was summoned to appear in court. A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said later that the force was willing to prosecute itself when required. Mr Hughes, who did not attend the hearing, said: "South Yorkshire Police have 3,500 drivers and 750 cars. "Unfortunately on an average of seven occasions per annum we can't identify a police driver who appears to have broken the law in respect of speed cameras. "Many of our officers have to reach incidents quickly and are allowed to exceed speed limits, but we require them to report the matter. A few times a year this does not happen. "When this occurs the force, as an organisation, takes responsibility and matters are reported to court in the name of the Chief Constable." Mike Trees, of South Yorkshire's road policing unit, said it was not only police forces who were prosecuted when a driver cannot be identified. He said: "Speeding tickets incurred by limited companies operating large fleets of vehicles could be dealt with in the same way." The anonymous driving offence which landed Mr Hughes in court happened in Wickersely, near Rotherham, last May. It is not far from where a traffic policeman was caught travelling at 48 mph by a camera on his way to pick up a Chinese takeaway to celebrate his 41st birthday with colleagues on his shift. But last month the same court cleared Stephen Akrill of exceeding the speed limit, which does not apply if it hinders police officers trained to drive at high speed using a vehicle for police purposes. At the time Mr Hughes said: "This incident has raised public concern and it is very regrettable that an officer should apparently have disregarded a speed camera under these circumstances. "The decision of the court, in the face of the evidence presented to them, is a matter for them, but South Yorkshire Police will always seek to prosecute police drivers where evidence suggests that they have failed to comply with the law which covers their use of police vehicles."
The area where the Chief Constable was caught speeding. 
The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police in England, Meredydd Hughes, was found guilty of speeding at Wrexham Magistrates Court today and banned from driving.  He was caught driving at 90 mph where the speed limit was 60 mph.  Wrexham Magistrates court disqualified Hughes from driving for 42 days and fined him £350.

The Chief Constable did not appear in court in person, but was represented by his solicitor, Huw Edwards.  Mr Edwards said:

"He doesn't seek to make any excuse about this matter. He totally accepts that the police have a duty to do.  He is no exception and he accepts that he must be punished for the offence."

"He asks me to apologise for the offence. He recognises that the matter is a serious matter." 

Hughes had already received six penalty points on his license from previous speeding convictions and a conviction for failing to identify the speeding driver of one of his force's vehicles in 2006, although his driving licence was free of points at the time he went to court.  Wrexham Magistrates Court had adjourned the case to today from a date in late November, as Meredydd Hughes initially claimed that he has still not yet found a solicitor to represent him.

Matthew Elliot, the Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, criticized Hughes for wasting Court time at the taxpayer's expense. "Meredydd Hughes has shown breathtaking hypocrisy in this case," said Elliot. "Not only has he been caught preaching one thing and doing another in the past, but he has also wasted court time and therefore taxpayers’ money."

Jools Townsend, speaking for the Road Safety Campaign group Brake, said the offence was "Shocking" and the sentence "lenient" - and that the Chief Constable should "Seriously consider his position as a result".

The incident is embarrassing for South Yorkshire Police, as Hughes was the Chair of ACPO's road policing enforcement committee, with responsibility for developing police policies about how speed cameras are used.  Hughes is a supporter of mobile speed cameras and believes that all speed cameras should be deliberately hidden from motorists, and has given interviews on the importance of road safety management in businesses.