A TRAVELLING salesman with a powerful new car was caught driving at 113mph on the M4 at Wanborough, a court heard.

Nimesh Mahesh Pankhania, 33, of Berkeley Road, Gloucester, had pleaded guilty by post in April to a charge of speeding at Wanborough on October 8, 2016 but the case had been adjourned for Pankhania to appear in person as the magistrates were considering disqualifying him from driving.

He told the magistrates in Swindon on Tuesday that he was very, very sorry. The incident had been a moment of madness in a new car and he never normally drove like that.

“It was reckless,” he said.

“I let myself down, put my job in jeopardy, let my girlfriend down and her kids who I take to school once a week and to other activities.”

He said his job as a travelling IT salesman for a company based in Cirencester took him all over the country and a driving ban would massively affect his role in the company.

He would also be very ashamed to tell his girlfriend’s children that he had been banned from driving and that he would not be able to take them to activities in the future. He added that he had since put his car, a Vauxhall Astra, on the market.

Chairman of magistrates Amanda Lee told Pankhania the speed at which he had been driving was unacceptable but taking into account that he had been driving for quite a few years and had a clean licence he would not be disqualified.

Instead six points were added to his licence, he was fined £666 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and a victim surcharge of £66.