Tory police and crime commissioner banned from driving after speeding

Tory police and crime commissioner who pledged road safety crackdown is banned from driving after being caught speeding five times and clocked at 40mph in a 30mph zone

• Nottinghamshire’s Caroline Henry broke the speed limit five times in 12 weeks
• The 52-year-old PCC told the Magistrates’ Court district judge: ‘I’m really sorry’
• She was fined £2,450 for the speeding, which also happened twice near a school

A Tory police and crime commissioner who pledged a road safety crackdown has been banned from driving after being caught speeding five times.

Nottinghamshire PCC Caroline Henry previously admitted the offences, including two close to a primary school, telling a district judge: ‘I’m really sorry’.

She was caught breaking a 30mph speed limit five times within a 12-week period  — two on consecutive days — and was banned today from getting behind the wheel by Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

The 52-year-old, who is the wife of Broxtowe MP Darren Henry and was elected to the post in May 2021, was caught speeding in a blue Mercedes and a silver Lexus with a personalised number plate. 

Henry, 52, has been fined a total of £2,450 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £190. 

Three penalty points have been imposed on each offence, bringing the total to 15. She has also been disqualified from driving for six months. 

Henry declined to answer questions outside Nottingham Magistrates’ Court (pictured today) on whether she would resign from her position. But after being banned from driving for six months, she said: ‘I am truly sorry for speeding’

Nottinghamshire’s Tory PCC Caroline Henry as been banned from driving for six months. Pictured outside Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on May 3

The 52-year-old was caught breaking the speed limit five times in 12 weeks. Pictured with campaign imagery

On her official PCC website, Henry listed ensuring an ‘effective and efficient’ police response to speeding as one of her priorities.

She campaigned for election using the slogan ‘Make Notts Safe’ and promised to ‘reduce crime with action, not words’.

Henry declined to answer questions outside Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on whether she would resign from her position.

In a short statement delivered on Monday after being banned from driving for six months, she said: ‘I am truly sorry for speeding.

‘Quite properly I’ve been fined and banned from driving for six months.

‘I remain committed to serving the people of Nottinghamshire as police and crime commissioner.’

Henry was captured over the speed limit twice near a primary school in Daybrook, Nottingham, as well as roads in Chilwell, Beeston and on the city’s A610.

Speed cameras clocked the PCC’s speed as high as 40mph in a 30mph zone, with other excess speeds recorded at 35mph and 38mph.

Henry was caught in 30mph zones at four locations in Nottingham in March, May and June last year. 

Henry was given a £2,450 fine and has been disqualified for six months. Pictured, Nottingham Magistrates’ Court

Imposing a £2,450 fine as well as disqualifying her for six months at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday, District Judge Leo Pyle said of the offences: ‘What they show is that you are driving at consistent speeds above the speed limits.

‘What I haven’t been told is why.

‘Whether that was due to work or during your private time, you must allow time to get to your destination safely.’

The judge added: ‘Speed limit (cameras) are sited… not at places where they can issue maximum amounts in fines, but for safety reasons.’

The offences took place on March 17 and 18, May 2 and 27, and June 8.

The judge dismissed Henry’s application to keep her driving licence due to ‘exceptional hardship’.

Her defence solicitor, Rhys Rosser, urged the court not to ban her so she can visit her child in hospital in Salisbury, saying it ‘cannot be done by public transport’.

But District Judge Pyle said that, despite it being an ‘inconvenience’, Henry’s husband, Broxtowe MP Darren Henry, could ‘facilitate’ it.

On her official PCC website, Henry, of Giltbrook, Nottinghamshire, listed ensuring an ‘effective and efficient’ police response to speeding as one of her priorities.

She campaigned for election using the slogan ‘Make Notts Safe’ and promised to ‘reduce crime with action, not words’.

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