Manchester United defender Leny Yoro has been handed a six-month driving ban after his £170,000 Porsche Cayenne GTS was clocked doing 72mph in a 30mph zone in the Manchester suburb of Withington last August.
The incident happened just after 4 pm on August 28 last year, on Mauldeth Road West, a stretch of road lined with homes, a secondary school and a sports club.
Yoro had only registered the car that same month, weeks before the offence took place.
Per BBC Sport, Greater Manchester Police charged him with speeding and failing to identify the driver of the vehicle, after letters sent to his Cheshire home went unanswered.
A Manchester United official eventually helped him enter a guilty plea online, and the police withdrew the second charge.
The case was handled through the single justice procedure at Crewe Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, meaning Yoro never had to appear in person.
His lawyer, Lisa Nevitt of Burton Copeland, issued an apology on his behalf and offered an explanation for the speed.
“Our client would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the incident, which came about as he was rushing to take a friend to the railway station. He further states that he believes where the speeding took place was at a point where the road was broad, and there was little prospect of contact with any vulnerable road users such as pedestrians,” Nevitt wrote to the court.
However, Magistrate Sunjeep Bhalla was not swayed. Yoro was not banned for accumulating penalty points, but the amount of the speed, nearly two and a half times the limit, left the court with little choice.
He was hit with a six-month ban, a £666 fine, £120 in costs and a £266 victim surcharge, totalling £1,052.
The ban will not affect his availability for United, who signed the 20-year-old from Lille for £52.2 million in July 2024. He has made 23 appearances for the club this season.
