FORMER Ipswich Town star Titus Bramble performed a U-turn in court yesterdaywhen he admitted driving his car at more than 100mph while not holding a full driving licence.

By Jonathan Barnes

FORMER Ipswich Town star Titus Bramble performed a U-turn in court yesterdaywhen he admitted driving his car at more than 100mph while not holding a full driving licence.

Bramble, who now plays for Newcastle United, was banned from driving for seven weeks and fined £2,000 for the offences, which he originally denied.

The sentence, handed out by magistrates in Ipswich, brought an end to the drawn-out court saga.

Bramble, 22, had been convicted of the offences in his absence at a trial in September but had the convictions quashed by magistrates the following month after arguing there had been a mix-up over the dates he was supposed to be in court.

The trial was set to go ahead again yesterday but the star's solicitor, Barry Warburton, changed his client's pleas after discovering another mix-up about Bramble's driving licence.

Following a telephone call to Bramble, who was not in court, Mr Warburton learned he had not applied for a full driving licence despite passing his test three years ago.

The solicitor then changed pleas to both offences to guilty under instruction from the footballer.

He was intending to fight the speeding charge on a technical matter that police had not followed proper procedure after clocking him on a pilot system device.

Prosecuting, Andrew Fitch-Holland said Bramble had been caught driving at 102mph on the A14 at Sproughton, near Ipswich, on January 11 this year.

Traffic police officers stopped the footballer's BMW X5 just after 3pm and Bramble admitted the offence after being shown the clocking device, he added.

He did not have a driving licence on him at the time and later produced a licence for police in Newcastle, which turned out to be provisional.

Mr Warburton said: "My client had passed his driving test. Unfortunately, he failed to follow up the documentation.

"When he did apply – after this offence – he was told he would have to take his test again. It was a matter of oversight rather than anything else. He has taken his test again and passed."

He said Bramble had a "substantial" disposal income and added a driving ban would cause him "considerable, if not exceptional hardship".

The star's family lives in Ipswich and he regularly commutes between Suffolk and his home in Newcastle, Mr Warburton added.

Presiding magistrate Anne Parry banned Bramble from driving for seven weeks and fined him £1,000 for each of the offences. He was also asked to pay £500 costs.

"This is a very serious case of speeding – Mr Bramble was driving at a very high speed," she said.

His solicitor phoned Bramble in Newcastle immediately after the hearing to inform him of the driving ban.