The man who until last month was Britain’s most senior traffic policeman has been banned from the road after being convicted of driving at 90mph in a 60mph speed limit.

Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and the former head of roads policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, was disqualified for 42 days after pleading guilty to speeding in Wrexham Magistrates' Court this morning.

Mr Hughes had been charged with driving at 90mph (145km/h) in a 60mph zone. He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

The policeman was caught by a speed camera in his Y-reg Audi on the A5 while on a climbing holiday in North Wales, at 8.17am on May 28.

Last month he was criticised for wasting court time when he failed to answer the charge, claiming he needed more time to find a solicitor.

Mr Hughes did not attend this morning’s hearing, making his plea via his solicitor, Huw Edwards.

Mr Edwards told the court: “He doesn’t seek to make any excuse about this matter. He totally accepts that the police have a duty to do. He is no exception and he accepts that he must be punished for the offence. He asks me to apologise for the offence. He recognises that the matter is a serious matter.”

Mr Hughes, who resigned from his road traffic position last month, has two previous speeding offences which were committed more than three years ago, but they were much less serious.

In May, when asked about his previous speeding fines, Mr Hughes told The Times: “I try my hardest to stick within the limit”.

Today he said, in a personal statement released after his sentence, that he very much regretted the offence. He said: “I recognise this is a significant breach of road traffic law and I have accepted my guilt and the punishment it merits.”

He said the weather on the day he committed the offence was good and the road surface was dry and that there had been minimal traffic.

He added: “There is never an excuse for bad driving and I should have paid more attention to my speed.”

Mr Hughes also revealed he had received two fixed penalty notices, both now expired, in the 30-plus years he has held a driving licence.

As Acpo’s road chief, Mr Hughes argued in favour of “less conspicuous” speed cameras as a way of slowing down traffic.

Mr Hughes said: “I remain convinced that safety cameras and speed enforcement are vital to reduce casualty levels and I will continue to support these actions as well as the other vital law enforcement actions against drink and drug driving, mobile phone use, and poor driver behaviour. Drivers who know they are guilty should plead guilty rather than exploit processed issues for spurious attacks on technology and I am proud to have at least lived up to that belief.”

A statement released by South Yorkshire Police following the verdict said: “South Yorkshire Police will continue to focus, under the leadership of the chief constable, on the issues that concern the people of South Yorkshire and that is maintaining the reductions in all major categories of crime as reported yesterday.”

Mr Hughes has held the post of Chief Constable since September 1994. He joined the South Wales constabulary in 1979 after leaving university. He has worked in a variety of roles including firearms officer.

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