AN OLYMPIC swimmer is set to stand trial over a motorway speeding ticket triggered by a speed camera in South Gloucestershire after blaming the incident on a sign ‘so poor it was easy to miss’.
Baroness Sharron Davies, 63, was driving back from a speaking event in Wales when she was caught by a speed camera on the M4.
Court papers show the former athlete, who recently became Baroness Davies of Devonport in the House of Lords, was driving her Mini at 65 miles per hour when the speed limit had been temporarily dropped to 50mph.
But she has vowed to fight the charge, saying she was ‘shocked’ to receive the speeding ticket, and insists she was not to blame.
“I am adamant the signage was so poor it was easy to miss, which is what must have happened,” she wrote.
Avon and Somerset Police launched the prosecution after Davies’ car triggered a speed camera near to junction 19 in South Gloucestershire at just after 11.30pm on October 15 last year.
“I was travelling alone back from Wales where I had been at a speaking event,” she explained in a statement accompanying her not-guilty plea.
“I am always extremely careful, but especially in Wales because of so many reduced speeds – e.g., 20mph and 50mph around Newport, so I use my cruise control and the app Waze to get home - that’s excellent at notifications.
“It was 11.30pm at night, the signage was very unclear and I absolutely did not see clear signage to show the limit had gone down to 50mph from 70mph on the motorway.
“I was doing 67mph, very much still inside the 70mph I thought it was.
“There were still three lanes of very, very light traffic and most importantly no workmen.
“I don’t know if this is about the time that roadworks start at night on motorways and if this was a factor in signage or confusion.
“However, I most definitely would have dropped my speed if I had been aware of the reduction.
“In 45 years of driving, I have never contested a speeding fine.
“But I am adamant the signage was so poor it was easy to miss, which is what must have happened because I was shocked to receive the speeding fine notification.
“I’d driven home changing my cruise control as speed limits changed.”
She added: “I pride myself on being a good driver, but also a safe one.”
Davies, an Olympic silver medallist, was nominated for a life peerage by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch at the end of last year.
She enjoyed a professional swimming career spanning three decades, winning two Commonwealth Games gold medals and breaking more than 200 British records in the pool before she retired in 1994.
Davies went on to become a successful TV pundit and is also the director of the campaign group the Women’s Sports Union.
She is due to stand trial over the speeding charge at Bath Magistrates’ Court on August 11.
Share