RICHARD HAMMOND SPEAKS OUT AFTER POLICE HAD TO HUNT HIM DOWN OVER A £999 SPEEDING FINE
It’s the kind of headline that writes itself: a man who has spent his entire career driving some of the fastest cars on the planet has just been fined for driving too fast on an ordinary road. Richard Hammond, the former Top Gear and Grand Tour presenter, has broken his silence after being convicted of speeding twice in less than a month in Herefordshire — a case so unusual that police reportedly had to send notices to three separate addresses before finally tracking him down.
The saga began when Hammond was caught speeding on two separate occasions within a matter of weeks. What made the case stand out wasn’t just the repeat offense, but the difficulty authorities had actually reaching him. According to reports, police sent official notices to three different properties connected to Hammond before eventually confirming his whereabouts at a sprawling estate in Wales — a home reportedly housing more than 30 registered vehicles, a detail that will surprise absolutely no one familiar with his lifelong obsession with cars.
Hammond was ultimately fined £999 for the offenses. Rather than staying quiet, the 56-year-old presenter has now spoken publicly for the first time since the conviction, admitting plainly that he was in the wrong. It’s a refreshingly straightforward response from a man whose entire public persona was built on flooring the accelerator for a television audience of millions — on a closed track, with a producer’s blessing, not on a public road with a speed camera watching.
The irony hasn’t been lost on fans. For nearly two decades, Hammond built a career alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May testing supercars at breakneck speeds for Top Gear and The Grand Tour, often narrowly escaping disaster — including his infamous 288mph crash in 2006 and a terrifying electric supercar fire in 2017. Off camera, though, it turns out the same speed instincts don’t always play well with a 30mph zone and a patient police force.
Hammond’s honesty about the situation is very much in keeping with his public image since stepping back from full-time TV presenting to focus on his restoration business, The Smallest Cog, and his YouTube-based Richard Hammond’s Garage series. Fans of the original Top Gear trio have been quick to see the funny side, with many noting that if anyone was going to get busted for speeding, it was probably always going to be him.
Whether this incident makes it into a future YouTube video or documentary remains to be seen — but knowing Hammond’s history of turning personal mishaps into content, don’t be surprised if it does.
