banned

SINGER Richard Ashcroft was banned from driving yesterday by a judge who criticised his repeated speeding.

The Verve frontman, 55, admitted doing 48mph in a 40mph zone in his £145,000 four-litre Mercedes Benz AMG V8.

He already had nine penalty points on his licence before his latest offence on the M4 in Brentford, West London, late on February 19 last year.

He was given three more, taking him to 12 and an automatic ban.

Banning him for six months, district judge Daniel Benjamin said: “Mr Ashcroft put not only himself, but others road users at greater risk of harm.

“The purpose of the penalty points disqualification provision is to enable a person after one offence to change and after a second offence change and after a third offence change and Mr Ashcroft has reached four offences without showing any intention to abide by the speed limit.”

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Dad-of-two Ashcroft, who lives in a £10million house near Richmond Green, South West London, was also fined £1,875, with £880 in costs.

He pleaded guilty by post and did not appear at Lavender Hill magistrates’ court, blaming a pre-arranged commitment.

Charges of speeding on the M4 twice in one day in March were dropped.

Ashcroft led The Verve, known for hit Bitter Sweet Symphony, from 1990 to 2009.

Four players have been banned from ⁠all ⁠football-related activity for several years for their part in match-fixing offences in Australia’s A-League.

Kearyn Baccus and ex-New Zealand international Clayton Lewis were paid A$10,000 (£4,940) each to get themselves booked during Macarthur FC’s game against Sydney FC in December 2023.

Both were sentenced to a two-year conditional release order, external in September and have now been banned for five years by Football Australia, effective from May 2024.

They also accepted the offer of completing 200 hours of unpaid football-related community service ‌to reduce their bans by 12 months.

Meanwhile, Riku Danzaki and Japanese compatriot ‌Yuta Hirayama have been banned for seven years from June 2025.

Former Western United midfielder Danzaki pleaded guilty in August, external to deliberately earning yellow ‍cards in multiple A-League games in April and May.

He received A$16,000 (£7,900) from bets placed by his friend Hirayama, an amateur player.

All four ‌have decided not to exercise their ‍right to appeal and accepted the sanctions.