Soccer star Kieron Dyer has been banned from driving for six months after being caught speeding. The 24-year-old Newcastle United player pleaded guilty at Consett Magistrates after being caught doing 63mph in a 50mph zone. It was the fourth speeding offence Dyer had committed in two years and he was banned under the totting-up procedure. Magistrates rejected his claim that being taken off the roads would cause him immense hardship. For his latest offence, committed on the A167 Park Road South dual carriageway at Chester-le-Street on December 8 last year, Dyer was yesterday given three penalty points, taking him to the level required for a ban. He was also fined £1,500 for the offence committed at 11.30am in his £40,000 black Mercedes. Dyer did not attend court. His solicitor Barry Warburton said: "His child and his partner live in Ipswich. He goes down to Ipswich two or three times a week from Newcastle and covers a not-inconsiderable mileage. "His partner can only get to Newcastle by public transport. His father is ill and has been for some time and takes medication. "Mr Dyer does charity work in Newcastle and Ipswich. He visits hospitals as an ambassador for his club. "A ban would cause him extreme difficulties, immense hardship and inconvenience." He added that Dyer was not personally in court to plead his case because of "contractual obligations". In July 2001, Dyer was banned for two months and fined £1,000 for speeding at 104mph on the A1(M). He was fined £60 and given three penalty points for speeding in November 2001. And in December 2002 he was fined £500 and given six penalty points by magistrates in Grantham, Lincolnshire, after being caught travelling at 80mph on a temporary 50mph stretch of the A1 in his BMW M3. Two days before Christmas last year Dyer, who cost Newcastle £6.5million when he signed from Ipswich Town four years ago, escaped unhurt after his £103,000 Ferrari hit the ironwork of the Swing Bridge across the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead. | 
