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Police Chief Calls 56-Day Driving Ban A "Joke" For Driver Caught At 154 Mph

Tim Passmore, the elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk, has criticized the penalty given to a 21-year-old driver that was caught driving twice the speed limit on public roads.
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Mk2 Seat Leon CupraMk2 Seat Leon CupraMk2 Seat Leon CupraMk2 Seat Leon CupraMk2 Seat Leon CupraMk2 Seat Leon CupraLouie HowlettLouie Howlett "for sale" ad describing his Mk2 Seat Leon Cupra
This April, a mechanic named Louie Howlett was caught speeding in Norfolk, the UK, while driving at 154 mph (249 km/h) on a carriageway near Icklingham. Magistrates have disqualified Howlett from driving for just 56 days, the maximum sentence the court can impose, and fined him 365 pounds.

Upon hearing the ruling, Tim Passmore stated that the penalty was “a joke,” and said he would bring the matter to the Sentencing Council, the BBC notes. Passmore refined his statement and explained he was the ruling was “a slap on the wrist,” a conclusion we can agree when someone is caught driving twice the national speed limit.

Howlett admitted to speeding and said he was “sorry,” and that he “had learned his lesson.” As we previously explained, stating that you are sorry does not absolve one of any blame, and in the case of an accident, sorries do not help the victims in any way.

Representatives of the Suffolk Police have made an appeal of the sentence, which they consider to be too lax for someone caught driving the second highest speed ever recorded on the country’s roads. As Mr. Passmore explained, the Sentencing Council should consider new charges for severe cases of speeding, even if they do not end in accidents.

Police Inspector David Giles has also declared himself disappointed with the sentence, and explained that driving at such a velocity is an “absolute disregard for anyone else on the road,” The Mirror notes.

According to the United Kingdom’s Road Traffic Regulation Act of 1984, the highest speed for sentencing is 101-110 mph in a 70 mph zone. Therefore, the 154 mph recorded by officers was off the guidelines used by the magistrates, which makes this sentence too small for the felony.

Louie Howlett posted a “for sale” advertisement on Facebook this June. He claims the TFSI engine of the Mk2 Seat Leon Cupra has been tuned with a Stage 2 remap, as well as a Milltek cat-back exhaust system. He claims the car provides around 270 BHP and 420 Nm (310 lb-ft) of torque, but these are just estimates of the seller.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
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Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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