A YOUNG Powys driver has learned a costly lesson after he was fined almost £1,000 for speeding.

Ritchie Myles Smith, 20, was ordered to pay a total financial penalty of £978 by magistrates in Aberystwyth on Thursday, February 10, for travelling at 27 miles over the speed limit in a village in the north of Powys last year.

Smith, of Oaklands, Penygarnedd, Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, drove a BMW on the B4396 at Penybont Llanerch Emrys, near the Powys border with Shropshire, at a speed of 57 miles per hour in a 30mph zone on the morning of August 9 last year.

Smith had pleaded guilty to the charge at a previous hearing in December. He was fined £789 at last week’s hearing, as well as ordered to pay £110 costs and a £79 surcharge. To make matters worse, he was also banned from driving for six months – the disqualification deemed “obligatory” due to repeat offending.