Archbishop of Canterbury fined £300 and given three points on his licence for doing 25 in a 20 zone
12 May 2023, 09:54 | Updated: 12 May 2023, 09:57
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been convicted of speeding, it has emerged days after his vital role in King Charles' coronation.
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The religious leader, 67, was caught on speed cameras driving 25mph on the Albert Embankment in London despite the 20mph limit in October last year.
Most Rev Welby, who was driving in a VW Golf towards Lambeth Palace, his official residence, was prosecuted on Wednesday.
He was given three penalty points and a £300 fine, and told to pay £90 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
The Notice of Intended Prosecution was sent to Arch Justin Welby, at his home in Lambeth Palace.
The Single Justice Procedure letter, sent in March, started with the salutation "Dear Welby".
Court documents obtained by the Evening Standard show Andrew Chapman, a police worker, stated to the court: "On 02/10/2022 at 11.05am at A3036 Albert Embankment a motor vehicle activated a speed camera.
"The speed recorded by means of RedSpeed SpeedCurb was 25 miles per hour."
The archbishop pleaded guilty online. The Single Justice Procedure allows for prosecutions to be carried out with written evidence in a private hearing.
Lambeth Palace said Mr Welby, who crowned King Charles on Saturday, had admitted speeding but did not realise it was dealt with in court.
Read more: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby slams controversial migrants bill as 'morally unacceptable'
The conviction came on the same day Mr Welby spoke in the House of Lords to criticise the Government's Illegal Migration Bill.
He sits in the chamber with other bishops from the Church of England.
He said: "This bill has no sense at all of the long term and the global nature of the challenge that the world faces.
"It ignores the reality that global migration must be engaged with at source as well as in the Channel as if we as a country were unrelated to the rest of the world."
He added: "It is isolationist, it is morally unacceptable and politically impractical."
But Conservative MP and member of the Home Affairs committee James Daly said: "The unelected archbishop should stick to religion and keep out of politics. He moralises but comes up with no solutions.
"This intervention neither helps the people being smuggled across the Channel in dangerous small boats or the working class communities put under strain by illegal migration.
"This government was democratically elected to implement policies like this."
