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Blue star Lee Ryan said he has no money as he was fined and banned from driving after failing to provide information about who was behind the wheel of his car.
The All Rise singer, from Chatham, appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court via remote link from Spain today, where he was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £660.
The 37-year-old, who said he was “out of work at the moment due to Covid”, was ordered to pay £1,501 in total, including court costs, and he told the court: “I just don’t have any money.”
Court papers said he was charged with driving a Mercedes at 70mph in a 60mph limit on an A-road in Peterborough, Fletton Parkway, on August 8 last year, and driving a Mercedes at 71mph on the same road on August 22 last year.
These charges were dismissed as the prosecution offered no evidence due to there being no means of proving who was driving.
Ryan went on trial for two counts of failing to give information relating to the identification of the driver when required, and he was found guilty by magistrates.
The singer, who insisted during the hearing that he had sent off the required information, was told if the money is not paid, he can be brought back to court and could find himself in prison.
"I just don't have any money..."
Ryan told the court his girlfriend Verity Morley had the use of his vehicle “because she was going up and down the country in the car with her job”, adding: “I gave her my car because I thought it was safer than her own.”
Alison Marsh, Presiding Justice, said it is accepted that Ryan was the owner of a Mercedes in August and September last year and that he did not advise the DVLA of changes of address in 2020.
“It is disputed that you responded to the request for details of the driver speeding on August 8 and August 22, 2020,” she said, adding: “The defendant agreed that he had not advised the DVLA of his changes of address in 2020, which is a legal requirement.
“We feel he has confused Verity’s speeding in his car on the September 5, 2020, which she received points in March this year, with these offences, and we conclude he has failed to provide information relating to the driver’s identity on August 8 and August 22, 2020 as legally required to do.”
She said she accepts it may not have been a “deliberate act”, but said the legal requirement that the DVLA has a correct and up-to-date address for you applies to everyone.
“We therefore find you guilty,” she said.
Mrs Marsh gave Ryan two lots of six points against his licence, resulting in a disqualification from driving for 12 months.
In regard to the fine, she said magistrates took into account the fact the music industry has been “severely hit” by the coronavirus pandemic, and decided to charge him for one offence.
After she listed the £660 fine, £66 victim surcharge and £775 prosecution costs, Ryan said: “I just don’t have any money.
“I’m not working. I mean, they’ve stopped the gigs. I don’t have any gigs.
“They’ve stopped everything because of the pandemic.
“There’s still no shows going on.”
It was put to Ryan there are shows going on in the UK, and he said: “I’ve not got anything. I haven’t got anything.”
He was asked if it would be unreasonable to think he may have some savings, and he said: “No, I spent them all in Covid.”
It follows another driving offence - this one drink-driving - which Ryan was found guilty of in 2014.
More recently, in August 2020, he was banned from driving for six months after being caught speeding twice.
