Fastest Driver Jailed Over 172mph Spin

Jailed: Timothy Brady

Fastest Driver Jailed Over 172mph Spin

The fastest motorist ever caught speeding in Britain has been jailed for 10 weeks.

Tim Brady was clocked driving at 172mph on the A420 near Abingdon in Oxfordshire in January.

The 33-year-old was driving a £98,000 3.6-litre Porsche 911 Turbo.

Last month Brady admitted one count of dangerous driving. He denied another charge of aggravated vehicle taking.

Today, at Oxford Crown Court, he was jailed, banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay £474 in costs.

His lawyer, John Reilly, told the court his client had admitted his actions were “foolhardy, stupid and done in a moment of weakness”.

Police had been dealing with another motorist who had been doing 115mph when Brady was caught.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said the Porsche was travelling at 77 metres per second and needed over 500 metres in which to stop.

“To put that into context, the average duration of a single blink of the eye is 0.3 seconds, during which time the car would have travelled 23 metres,” the spokesman said.

Police said Brady managed to stop the car in 681 metres, though it was wobbling due to the heavy braking.

The previous record for the highest speed to result in a conviction was 156mph.

In 2003, car dealer Jason McAllister was caught doing that speed in his 3.2-litre BMW M3 in Scotland.

:: Meanwhile, drivers who do not own up to speeding are to face double penalty points on their licence.

Brady, from Harrow, north-west London, resigned from his job at car lease firm Helphire, at its Abingdon branch, days after police stopped him in the car.

A spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said: “The idea of someone driving at that speed is horrific.

“The chances that a person will be able to control a vehicle at that speed, if something unexpected happens, is slim.

“It is extremely selfish. Nobody has the right to put other people’s lives at risk like that.”