Speeding motorcyclist clocked at 160mph banned
- Published
"This is not a racetrack", police said after stopping Simon Anthony on his motorcycle at more than twice the legal speed limit
A motorcyclist caught speeding at 160mph (256km/h) has been banned from driving for a year.
Simon Anthony's BMW bike was seen going "horrendously fast" on the A47 at Thorney, Cambridgeshire, at about 17:20 BST on 14 August, police said.
Officers said the speed - more than twice the national limit - was "one of the highest" they had ever recorded.
Anthony, 57, of Orchard Mews, Woodston, will also have to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £400 costs.
The full-time technical operator admitted speeding in December. The limit along the stretch is 70mph (112km/h).
At Cambridge Crown Court, Judge Gareth Hawkesworth heard there had been few vehicles on the road at the time, it had been a bright day and the ground was dry.
"Driving a motorcycle at 160mph even with dry conditions and in broad daylight, is extremely dangerous," he told him, "not least to you."
He also ordered Anthony to retake his driving test when the ban expires.
Simon Anthony was caught going "horrendously fast"
Anthony was clocked on a laser device by officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire road policing unit, as they sat in a lay-by off the dual carriageway.
PC Dave Black said at the time: "My immediate thought was, this is going very fast.
"But when I saw 160mph on the laser, I was shocked. He's certainly the fastest person I've ever stopped."
He wrote on Twitter that "this was not a racetrack".
The speed had put both Anthony and the lives of other road users in danger, he said.
A spokesperson for the Probation Service told the court Anthony "took a chance" and was "concentrating on the road and not on the speed he was doing".
The court also heard that Anthony has since sold the motorcycle.
- Published15 August 2016
