A SOUTHAMPTON man caught speeding four times in a month by the same set of speed cameras has avoided a driving ban - because his speedometer was faulty.

When he appeared in court to face the speeding charges Jamie Andrew Richard Close escaped being banned from the roads because magistrates accepted his claim that the speedometer of his silver Peugeot 206 was not working properly.

The 32-year-old was caught speeding four times on the 30mph Maybray King Way in Southampton and once at St Mary's Place, also in Southampton.

Close was caught twice in one day on July 10. Both times he was caught driving at 35mph.

He was then caught by the same camera driving at 36mph on July 26.

On July 27, Close was caught speeding at 38mph by the speed camera at St Mary's Place.

He was caught on July 29, driving at 35mph, again at Maybray King Way.

During a hearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court, Close, of Dumbleton Towers, Southampton, pleaded guilty through the single justice procedure to five counts of speeding.

But magistrates did not endorse his licence because they accepted on the balance of probabilities that Closes’ car had a faulty speedometer.

Instead, Close was fined £150 and ordered to pay court costs of £85.

As previously reported in the Echo, figures released last year revealed the Maybray King Way speed camera to be the UK’s busiest speed camera – having been triggered more than 50,000 times between 2015 and 2017.