Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli fined £800 and banned from driving for 28 days for speeding

Formby Bubble
May 16, 2015
2 min read

Mario Balotelli, who lives in Formby, has been fined £800 and banned from driving for 28 days after he was caught doing speeds of 109mph in his Ferrari.

The Liverpool FC striker was due to attend Wirral Magistrates court today having been convicted in his absence last week.

The 24-year-old Italian did not appear though, with his solicitor Mike Hogan telling magistrates he had not received the summons.

And the first Balotelli knew of his court date was when he received an adjournment notice.

Balotelli was pulled over by police shortly after midnight on December 3, last year on the M62 at Tarbock Island, near Huyton.

He had been driving his high performance left-hand drive Ferrari.

The court heard that super-car’s speedometer is calibrated in kilometres per hour - and he had not been aware that the speed had crept up so much.

Balotelli was fined £800, ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge and £100 court costs.

His solicitor asked the court for 28 days for payment to be made.

Balotelli was said to have been co-operative with police and would have entered a guilty plea had he known about the first court hearing.

The court heard there had been issues with his mail following his move to a recently constructed home in Formby which could have been to blame for him missing his day in court.

Mr Hogan said: “It wasn’t a case of him simply ignoring an important document sent by the court.

“Had he received the summons in the first place he would have pleaded guilty on his first appearance.

“Mr Balotelli has asked me to apologise.

“The police officers pulled him over just after midnight. He may have been in a rush to get home and very quickly the speed crept up.

“There’s no suggestion that he makes a habit of doing this.”

His solicitor added: “Mr Balotelli will have to take this on the chin but he does have a clean record.

Any disqualification, whether he was a footballer or not, would cause an inconvenience.

“He is in a fortunate or unfortunate position of being something of a celebrity. The loss of his ability to drive would have an impact on his privacy.”