A CHIEF executive of a speed camera firm has today admitted speeding at more than 100mph in Suffolk.

A SPEED camera boss has been banned from driving after admitting speeding through Suffolk at more than 100mph on a dual carriageway.

Tom Riall, a chief executive of Serco, was caught by a police patrol car in Newmarket travelling at 102mph, leading to him being hit with a six month ban at Sudbury Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The 49-year-old of Ufton Nervet, near Reading, told them when he was pulled over he thought he had been driving around 90 mph and said he regretted his actions which had caused him “personal embarrassment”.

But a spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said: “Being unaware of your speed is completely unacceptable. Anyone who is driving responsibly should always be aware of their speed no matter how urgent a meeting is they are going to.

“It is completely irresponsible to be driving at that speed. If he had had a crash it would have been an extremely serious one.”

Riall, who fronted a road safety campaign only last year in his role at Serco, was clocked doing 102.92mph in a blue Volvo on the eastbound section of the A14 just before 1pm on January 4.

The court heard how the chief executive of Serco's Civil Government division has responsibility in his job for installing and maintaining speed cameras.

Addressing magistrates, he said he would like to “formally apologise” and added: “In my role I am all too aware of the consequences of speeding.”

The court heard that the married father of three had two previous motoring convictions, including a past speeding offence, from 2006 and 2007.

At the time of his latest offence, Riall had been driving a blue Volvo estate to visit friends in Newmarket, before attending a business meeting in Norwich.

He told the court that driving conditions had been good and there was little traffic on the road.

He said: “Of course, while I have had a number of fixed penalty notices in the past, this is the first time I have exceeded the speed limit to this degree.”

Magistrates' chairman David Hooley imposed six points on his licence, which will result in a six month driving ban. He also fined Riall �300 and ordered to pay �46 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of �15.

Outside court, Riall said: “I accept the decision of the court. I recognise that speeding is not acceptable.

“I very much regret what happened and I have made a full apology to the court.”

A spokesman for Serco Civil Government division said he did not wish to add to Riall's comment.