Six months? For doing 36mph in a 30? Come on. Was the judge an Evertonian?
That was my first reaction when I saw the news that Mohamed Salah had been banned from driving for six months and ordered to pay £1,044 following an incident involving his Rolls-Royce in Wilmslow.
The incident took place on March 27, just three days after Salah announced that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season following nine remarkable years at the club.
His Rolls-Royce had been recorded by a speed camera travelling at 36mph in a 30mph zone.
Now, speeding is speeding. Speed limits exist for a reason, and nobody should receive special treatment simply because they are a world-famous footballer.
But six months?
For 36mph?
Liverpool supporters could be forgiven for wondering whether someone had been sitting in the courtroom wearing a blue scarf beneath their robes.
But There Is More to the Story
Before we accuse every magistrate in Cheshire of secretly supporting Everton, there is an important distinction to make.
Salah was not actually convicted of the original speeding offence.
That charge was withdrawn.
Instead, he was convicted of failing to provide information about who was driving the vehicle after police sent him a notice of intended prosecution.
According to court records, Salah did not respond to the notice or enter a plea. The case was subsequently dealt with under the Single Justice Procedure at Warrington Combined Court.
That failure to provide driver details is what led to the six-month driving ban.
Cheshire Constabulary treats it as a separate offence, and a conviction carries six penalty points.
So the situation is not simply:
> “Mohamed Salah drove at 36mph, therefore he was banned for six months.”
The court was dealing with his failure to identify the driver, not merely the speed recorded by the camera.
That is an important distinction.
Still… Six Months?
Even with that clarification, the punishment is difficult to ignore.
The vehicle was recorded travelling at 36mph in a 30mph zone — just six miles per hour above the limit.
Cheshire Police state that motorists recorded at speeds up to 42mph in a 30mph zone may potentially be considered for a driver awareness course, although there is no automatic entitlement to one.
That is not what happened in this case because the matter became one of failing to provide driver information.
Nevertheless, when the headline reads “Mohamed Salah banned from driving for six months”, it sounds remarkably severe when compared with the original speed involved.
The £1,044 payment also was not simply a £1,044 speeding fine. The reported figure includes the financial penalties and costs associated with the court proceedings.
The headline, therefore, makes the punishment sound even more dramatic than the initial incident.
The Timing Is Remarkable
There is another curious detail.
Salah was caught on March 27.
Just three days earlier, on March 24, he had publicly confirmed that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
After nine years at Anfield, one of the greatest players in the club’s modern history was preparing to say goodbye.
Liverpool described him as having “firmly established himself as one of the greatest players in Liverpool’s history”.
That was hardly an exaggeration.
Salah left Liverpool having scored 257 goals in 442 appearances, while winning two Premier League titles, the Champions League, two League Cups and an FA Cup.
Imagine telling Liverpool supporters at the time that, within a few months, one of the stories surrounding Salah would involve a six-month driving ban after his Rolls-Royce was recorded travelling at 36mph.
Football really does take you in unexpected directions.
Surely the Judge Wasn’t an Evertonian?
Of course, I’m joking.
Probably.
Hopefully.
There is no evidence whatsoever that the magistrate involved in the case supports Everton.
But as a Liverpool supporter, I reserve the right to ask questions.
Six months, though?
For a player who gave Liverpool nine years of extraordinary football, unforgettable goals, trophies and European nights, seeing Salah’s name alongside a six-month driving ban feels strangely surreal.
And before anyone accuses me of defending speeding because he is Mohamed Salah, I am not.
If you break the law, you have to accept the consequences.
However, there is a difference between accepting that an offence deserves punishment and questioning whether the punishment appears disproportionate when compared with the original incident.
The key point is that the six-month ban resulted from the failure to provide driver details, not simply from travelling at 36mph.
That is what Liverpool supporters should bear in mind when reading the story.
One Final Salah Story We Didn’t Expect
Salah has now moved on from Liverpool and is playing his football in Turkey with Trabzonspor.
He has reportedly made an excellent start, scoring seven league goals in his first six matches.
Liverpool supporters will continue to follow his goals from afar, but this is certainly an unexpected chapter in the Mohamed Salah story.
The man who spent nine years terrorising Premier League defenders in a Liverpool shirt is now making headlines for an entirely different reason.
And perhaps the strangest part is how minor the original incident sounds when stated plainly:
36mph.
In a 30.
Six-month driving ban.
£1,044.
I’m sorry, but there is only one question left.
Was the judge an Evertonian?
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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