Tweet
300km/h speedster faces $1.1 million fine
Allan Hall
August 12, 2010
A man caught speeding in the latest Mercedes-Benz supercar has been slugged with the world's largest speeding fine.
A Swedish motorist is facing the world's biggest speeding fine of pounds 650,000 after being caught driving at almost 300km/h on a Swiss motorway.
The 37-year-old man was driving at two-and-a-half times the speed limit in his $500,000 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing and police said he was travelling so fast it took him some distance to stop.
In Switzerland speeding fines are worked out using a formula based on the income of the motorist and the speed.
According to prosecutors, he is now facing the highest possible penalty of 300 days of fines at 2166 pounds a day, a total of 650,000 pounds ($1.1 million).
''We have no record of anyone being caught travelling faster in the country,'' said a police spokesman.
He was caught by a speed camera on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne on Friday.
He escaped being caught by numerous radar traps en-route simply because he was going too fast and they were incapable of clocking speeds beyond 200km/h.
A new generation of radar machines finally caught him travelling at close to 300km/h.
''I think the speedo on the car, which is new, is faulty,'' he told police by way of an explanation.
The police arrested him shortly afterwards and released him after questioning.
Benoit Dumas, a police officer in the region where the car was stopped, said: ''He needed over half-a-kilometre of road to come to a halt.''
Comment