One-month driving ban for snooker player Mark Allen after speeding offence

Mark Allen, who has previously won the Masters and UK Championship, admitted doing twice the speed limit in a 30mph zone

Northern Ireland snooker player Mark Allen has been handed a one-month driving ban after he admitted doing twice the speed limit in a 30mph zone.

The 39-year-old, who has previously won the Masters and UK Championship, was also fined £500.

Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, heard that the incident happened on the Belfast Road in Antrim on 8 July 2025, when Allen was travelling at 60mph in the 30mph zone.

Speaking to Antrim-born Allen on Tuesday, the judge said that, while he accepted the professional had put money back into the community at his own expense, the speed involved meant "there has to be a deterrent element in the sentence".

'Massive impact'

Allen's lawyer accepted that the defendant has two endorsements on his licence, both for speeding.

He told the court that as well as being a carer for his mother, there was a reference from the chairman of the Mark Allen Foundation, a local charity of which the defendant is the patron.

Allen's lawyer said that while the speed was excessive "and he should not have been anywhere near that speed," it was also a factor that the Belfast Road "is quite wide…and he didn't realise it was a 30 [mph] zone".

His solicitor said the loss of the licence would have a "massive impact".

The judge said he was not "singling" Allen out for "special treatment" but that he had to sentence in a way "to act as a deterrent to others".

"If people read about your case and see that you don't get disqualified, they will think that it's carte blanche for them," said the judge.

He added that there was clear guidance that if there had been a crash at that speed, "the chances of serious injury, if not fatality, are greatly increased".