Sir Idris Elba has been fined after being caught breaking a 20mph speed limit whilst riding his scooter along Chelsea Embankment in central London. The acclaimed actor and DJ, 53, was prosecuted by the Metropolitan Police following a speeding incident that occurred last June.
Sir Idris acknowledged being the rider in question, but argued he had not received a fixed penalty fine from the police – and was therefore denied the chance to deal with the matter out of court. Following representation by specialist motoring solicitors at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, Sir Idris received a £147 fine.
During a private hearing, the star was issued three penalty points on his driving licence, alongside an order to pay £110 towards costs and a £59 victim surcharge.
Police evidence submitted to the court included three photographs showing Sir Idris travelling at 28mph on his scooter along Chelsea Embankment close to Cheyne Walk, in an area subject to a 20mph restriction.
The incident took place just one day after it emerged that the actor is working alongside the King on a Netflix documentary marking half a century of Charles’s charitable foundation The King’s Trust.
Towards the end of last year, the Luther and The Wire star was recognised with a knighthood in acknowledgement of his charitable endeavours.
Court documents reveal that Sir Idris’ BMW moped activated a speed detection camera at 10.12am on June 21 last year. “The speed recorded was 28mph on a 20mph road,” a police statement set out.
A member of police staff confirmed Sir Idris “confirmed that they were the driver/rider at the time” following correspondence from officers.
They continued: “An automated eligibility check was completed on the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme database (NDORS).
“The driver/rider, Mr Idris Elba, was ineligible for a diversionary course.”
The staff member explained the Hollywood star was presented with a fixed penalty to resolve the matter, though he failed to settle it or supply his driving licence information.
But Sir Idris’ legal representatives at Patterson Law, a practice specialising in motoring matters, informed the court the fixed penalty notice was never received.
The letter said: “Mr Elba initially responded to the Notice of Intended Prosecution to nominate himself as the driver and was expecting to receive a fixed penalty offer.
“However, the offer never arrived and he therefore never had the opportunity to accept it.
“Had he received it, he absolutely would have accepted it.”
The law firm noted the actor possessed a clean driving licence and was entering a guilty plea to the charge, avoiding the cost of a trial.
The letter continued: “We would ask the court to consider replicating the fixed penalty by imposing no more than a £100 fine, with no award for costs.
“He never received the fixed penalty – and this was through no fault of his own. It would therefore not be in the interests of justice to impose further financial penalties for something which was not his fault.”
The case was handled through the Single Justice Procedure, an expedited system enabling magistrates to convene privately and resolve minor criminal matters using solely written submissions.
Sir Idris was not obliged to appear in court for the sentencing hearing.