Speeding Wilmslow driver faces £11,000 legal bill

A businessman convicted of speeding has been landed with a legal bill of almost £11,000.

Wilmslow company director, David Pickup, 45, was travelling to his holiday home in Abersoch in his Audi R8 when he was clocked driving at 101mph.

Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold heard how a police car filmed the speeding vehicle as it drove along the A55 at Lloc, Flintshire, in April last year.

The prosecution alleged that during a discussion with officers after he was stopped, he had asked them: “Can we call it 98?”

Pickup denied breaking the 70mph speed limit, saying a number of people from Cheshire had second homes in Abersoch – which he called a ‘millionaire’s paradise’ – and said a number of luxury Audi R8 vehicles regularly used the A55.

He questioned whether it was his car that had been clocked, and a defence expert also questioned the accuracy of the in-car police speed camera on the Audi R8.

The prosecution engaged its own expert – who hired an airfield and an Audi R8 to carry out tests – the results of which were presented to the court.

Pickup, from Wilmslow, was convicted of speeding, fined £675 and had six penalty points placed on his driving licence.

But magistrates also awarded the full prosecution costs bill, including the cost of the additional testing – a total of £10,384.