Former Portsmouth footballer Jermain Defoe has had his speeding charge case scrapped due to a legal loophole.
Mr Defoe, 26, managed to get the case halted because of red tape. Back in December Mr Defoe was summonsed to appear at Fareham Magistrates Court to face charges for three speeding allegations and is facing a speeding ban if found guilty.
The footballer was allegedly caught by a speeding camera breaking the speed limit of 40mph on two occasions in Portsmouth in March and May 2008. He has also been charged for driving 45mph in a 30mph zone in Portsmouth, again, in May last year.
Mr Defoe applied for the case to be declared void because he had not been given enough notice to appear at court, as he only received his summons at the end of December. The Crown Prosecution Service will now have to issue a new summons to re-open the case, giving the millionnaire footballer more time on the roads before facing a potential ban.
Mr Defoe also faces three charges of failing to identify the driver of his vehicle.
The glamour model Jordan was also in court last month charged with the same offences to Defoe. She managed to get off on a technicality, due to a witness' evidence being disallowed, and was acquitted of both charges of speeding and not providing information on the identity of the driver.
Read more on how Jordan got off her speeding fines here.
Mr Defoe is one of a long list of celebrities who is trying to save his licence due to a legal technicality. He has hired the celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman, known as "Mr Loophole", who is an expert at using legal red tape to his advantage.
But celebrities are not the only people who can use legal loopholes to avoid a speeding fine or parking ticket. If you know the rights and wrongs of motoring law, you, too, can make a successful appeal.
Jeanette Miller, of Geoffrey Miller Solicitors in Manchester, is one of the UK's leading experts on motoring law. Author of Lawpack's Fight a Motoring Ticket Kit, she knows all of the legal loopholes you can use to get off a parking ticket or be cleared of a speeding fine.
She says: "If you get a motoring ticket, it's important that you know all about the procedures the police, or the local council, should follow as you can be cleared of the charge if these procedures don't take place. For example, if your get charged with speeding and the police fail to record a check of their speed testing equipment, you can escape your penalty.
"Also, if you receive a parking ticket and you think it's unfair, then appeal. Only 1% of people can be bothered with appealing their parking ticket, but if you do, you have 60% chance of success."
Mr Freeman's celebrity cases
Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter, was charged for failing to name the driver on a speeding ticket he was sent by Alfa Romeo, from whom he had loaned the vehicle. The car was caught doing 82mph in a 50mph zone in September 2007. The case was dropped due to a technicality as Alfa Romeo only had information on who they had loaned the car to and not on who the driver was.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was cleared of driving his BMW on the hard shoulder of the M602 in Eccles, Greater Manchester in October 1999. Nick Freeman argued that it was due to an emergency as Sir Alex had an upset stomach and needed to use the toilet. Later that same month, Sir Alex was cleared of speeding due to there being no proof that he was driving at the time.
Colin Montgomerie was cleared of speeding in September 2004 after he was accused of driving at 96mph on the A3, near his Surrey home. The case collapsed as the prosecution failed to prove that the golfer was driving as the officer who stopped him failed to appear in court.
Andrew Flintoff, the cricketer, was clocked doing 87mph in a 50mph zone in a friend's car in July last year, but he was acquitted in just 41 seconds after Nick Freeman argued that the prosecution hadn't followed the procedure correctly. Flintoff's prosecution notice was served two days' late, even though, in any speeding case, it's fundamental that the notice is sent and received within 14 days.
Jonathan Woodgate, the footballer, was pulled over by an unmarked police car when he was driving at 85mph in a temporary 50mph zone, but got off the speeding charge due to the speed check being unreliable. In court the prosecution said that the speed check was carried out over a distance of 519m, but Nick Freeman argued successfully that the distance was only 405m. The prosecution accepted that the speed check was void and Mr Woodgate was cleared.
Further information
Want to get off your speeding ticket? Speeding loophole myths explained.