Friday, 16 May 2025

Sicknote Chelsea Defender Wesley Fofana Gets Two-Year Speeding Ban

Chelsea FC’s Wesley Fofana has been banned from driving for two years after eight more offences in three expensive high-powered vehicles.

The £70m centre-half was also slapped with a whopping thirty-eight penalty points - taking the total on his driving licence to forty-seven.


The 24 year-old Marseille-born French national did not appear at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court, where he was also fined a total of £5,328, plus a £2,131 victim surcharge.


“The minimum disqualification today is twelve months, but we take into account the fact he is a habitual speeder, with access to powerful motorcars, who speeds at nearly double the speed limit,” announced bench Chairman John Soones.


The injury-plagued star committed five of the speeding offences while behind the wheel of his white 6.7 litre Rolls Royce Cullinan, which start at approximately £300,000 new.


Two offences were while driving his blue 4.0 litre Audi  and he was once caught speeding in his Lamborghini Urus, which retail from £200,000 new.


The former Leicester City defender won the 2021 FA Cup with the Foxes, but is regarded as a “sicknote” by Blues fans, having missed the entire 2023-2024 campaign with an ACL.


He is currently out with a season-ending hamstring injury.


Fofana, who lives in a detached £2.8m seven-bedroom house in Coombe Lane West, Kingston-upon-Thames, where rapper Stormzy is a neighbour, has only made fourteen Premier League appearances this campaign.


He signed a seven-year contract with Chelsea FC in August, 2022 and today his lawyer Imogen Cox told the magistrates he earns in excess of the £1,000-a week court maximum used for calculating fines.


All five speeding offences in his Rolls Royce were in a 50mph zone on the A3 Esher bypass, which Fofana regularly uses to get to and from his home to the club’s training ground in Cobham, Surrey.


A speed camera caught him at 77mph on December 26, last year; 68mph the next day; 90mph on December 30, 2024; 88mph on January 11, this year and 67mph on February 2.


Prosecutor Laura-Ann Harding told the court it was 3.02am when Fofana was caught at 77mph; 1.00am when caught at 90mph and approaching 1.00am when caught at 67mph.


The other two offences were at 10.00pm and 9.46pm.


He was caught again in the same spot on the A3 while driving his Audi at 62mph on September 10, last year and at 83mph the next month on October 21.


The earliest offence was when Fofana drove his Lamborghini at 26mph in a 20mph zone at just before 1.00am in Acre Lane, Brixton on March 12, 2024.


Fofana had so many speeding offences at Lavender Hill they were scattered throughout the building’s courtrooms and Chairman Mr Soones quipped: “He’s got a flush. He is in Court One, Two and Three, but we have gathered them all together”


The French international admitted all the offences and his personal ‘Executive Assistant’ worked closely with Ms Cox to bring them all together to be dealt with at one hearing.


The court also heard Fofana was disqualified for six months in January, 2023 for speeding offences and before today’s sentence had nine points on his licence - again for speeding in 2022 and 2023.


“Mr Fofana means no disrespect by not attending court today,” said Ms Cox. “He clearly faces a disqualification and knows he is going to be disqualified and I asked him to not drive after 9.30am today.


“He has a significant gap on his driving record where he is not committing offences,” added the lawyer, referring to one in 2022 and one in 2023 before this latest batch.


“He was doing more driving miles and he accepts he disregarded the rules of the road and he asks me to apologise on his behalf.


“There is no ‘exceptional hardship’ argument put forward by Mr Fofana. He knows he is going to be off the road for at least twelve months,” added Ms Cox.


“He earns in excess of the one thousand pounds a week maximum we use for these offences and he realises he is likely to receive the maximum fine.


“He is a young man that plays football for a living and he works extremely hard, training and has foolishly not complied with the rules of the road.


‘He is a young man and he moved over here for work and knows that he has done wrong. He has appointed his executive assistant to liaise with me.”


Fofana must also pay £110 costs and was given fourteen days to pay the entire sum in full.

No comments: