THREE drivers who broke the speed limit in high-powered cars have appeared before the courts.

The men were all convicted of the motoring offence at Poole Magistrates' Court on Friday, September 14.

Daniel Gallen, 51 and of Dover Road in Poole, was behind the wheel of his Porsche when he drove at 83 miles per hour on a 50mph stretch of the Wessex Way in May.

The defendant, who lives in a property valued at some £1.6m, was fined £461 and ordered to pay a £46 surcharge and £85 costs.

He was also banned from driving for six months. Although he made an argument that he shouldn't be disqualified based on 'exceptional hardship', it was rejected by magistrates.

It was heard that the ban was obligatory due to his "repeat offending". His licence was endorsed with six points.

Matthew Stanbury, of Wimborne Road West in Wimborne, drove his BMW on the Puddletown Bypass at Dorchester at 101mph on May 10.

The speed limit on the stretch is 70mph.

Stanbury, 28, was fined £346 and ordered to pay a £34 surcharge and £85 costs. His driving licence was endorsed with six points.

Ryan White, 26, drove an Audi on the A35 Upton Bypass at 104mph on May 29. The speed limit is 70mph. White, of Holmes Road in Swanage, will return to the court for sentence after the case was adjourned for magistrates to consider banning him from driving.

Dorset Police list speeding as one of the 'fatal five', a list of actions a driver can take that make a collision more likely.

Traffic officers say 98 per cent of collisions are caused by human error, with just two per cent caused by unavoidable issues such as mechanical failure.

The fatal five are:

  • Excess or inappropriate speed
  • Failing to wear a seatbelt
  • Using a mobile phone
  • Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • Careless or inconsiderate driving

In August, Nicholas Curtis, 58, was banned from driving after clocking up nearly 120mph in his Jaguar on the Spur Road.

Curtis, of Woolslope Road, West Moors, admitted exceeding the speed limit. The court heard he already had six points on his licence from prior speeding offences.

He was fined £750 and disqualified from driving for six months.

Perhaps the fastest speed recorded on Dorset roads was Brendan John Matthews, 28, of Wyke Road, Weymouth, whose car was said to have been clocked by police travelling at 152mph on the A35 at Puddletown.

Matthews however only accepted a maximum speed of 140mph. He received an 18-week suspended prison sentence.