Magistrate caught speeding at 69mph in 40mph zone may face investigation

A MAGISTRATE caught doing nearly 30mph over the speed limit on a 40mph city road may face an investigation.

Officers caught Kenneth James Fellows, 42, of Balham Avenue, Hull, doing 69mph in the 40mph zone on December 11.

He admitted breaking the speed limit when he appeared before Grimsby Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

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The court heard Fellows, who was driving a Mercedes at 69mph on Hedon Road, the main road to the docks and to the east of Hull, was caught by police using laser equipment.

The local advisory committee will need to consider whether to investigate and will ask the magistrate for his comments.

They may then decide to appoint a conduct investigation panel.

The case was originally listed at Hull Magistrates’ Court but was transferred to Grimsby because Fellows was a serving magistrate.

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Fellows, who represented himself, was fined £80, ordered to pay £40 costs and a £15 victims’ surcharge. He was also given six penalty points.

A statement from the Office for Judicial Complaints said: “It is likely the local advisory committee will have to consider whether they need to look at Mr Fellows’s conduct following the outcome of his court appearance.”

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, said: “The 40mph limit will be there for a reason. People with jobs held in respect by society have a responsibility to deliver the right sort of message. Traditionally the long straight road is the one where people tend to go fast – either through inattention or because the speed limit seems fairly irrelevant.

“The pressure for the limit is often placed here by the people who live along that road and the casualty record of that road.”

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Earlier this year one of Britain’s most senior appeal court judges, Lord Justice Thorpe, was reprimanded for receiving a driving ban and failing to inform judicial authorities that he was facing traffic offences.

In 2010/2011 two members of the judiciary were removed for motoring offences; one received formal advice, warning or guidance and a fourth was given a reprimand.

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