FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYER GIVEN 6 MONTH DRIVING BAN

Former Manchester United footballer Jesse Lingard has been disqualified from driving for six months and fined £900. This is after failing to provide details to identify the driver of his Range Rover caught speeding by police.

Lingard, 30, whose contract with Nottingham Forest ended in June, appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court to admit the offense during a brief hearing. He spoke only to confirm his identity and enter his guilty plea.

Lingard’s car was caught speeding in Stretford, Manchester, in August last year. He received a letter from Greater Manchester Police asking for the drivers’ details but failed to provide them. Frank Rogers, representing Lingard, said he was not the driver of the speeding car but missed the letter telling him to provide the driver’s details.

Mr. Rogers said: “He was at the time of the speeding offense living in rented accommodation in Nottingham, where he was then playing. The documents were delivered to his permanent address in Altrincham.

“Mr. Lingard has accepted that the system in place at that time just was not good enough to protect him and deal with processing his mail. “So when the speeding offense was committed in August last year in Stretford, Mr. Lingard was in Nottingham. He was not the driver.”

Mr. Rogers said Lingard had been with Manchester United since the age of nine, until his transfer to Nottingham Forest in July last year. Lingard is now “in discussion” with several clubs about his future playing career.

He said the footballer was single and provided financial support to his extended family. The court heard Lingard had two speeding convictions on June 5 and June 6, 2020. Although these had “lapsed”, due to his guilty plea, the six points relating to them were re-activated, and he faced

immediate disqualification from driving under the “totting up” of points process. District Judge Jane Hamilton told Lingard, “Your license will be endorsed with six penalty points. The six already recorded against you in 2022 count, so you are liable to be disqualified under the totting-up process.

“So you are disqualified for six months. That begins immediately.” Lingard was also fined £900, with a further £200 in court costs and a £360 surcharge. He made no comment as he left the court.