Noel Gallagher hit with six month driving ban despite never learning to drive

06 September 2023 , 15:20

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Noel Gallagher has been handed a driving ban (Image: Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images)

Noel Gallagher has been hit with a fine and a six month driving ban, despite never learning to drive.

The Oasis star, 56, was issued the ban after twice failing to hand over information of who was driving his car when it caught speeding. He has no driving license himself, and so someone else was behind the wheel of his £80,000 Range Rover Autobiography. Noel was previously prosecuted when the car was caught speeding in West London last year.

The impressive motor was clocked doing 41mph on a 30mph stretch of road on the A40. He was given a £742 fine and six penalty points, even though he doesn't drive. The High Flying Bird front man's driver Alan Neeson wrote to Willesden Magistrates' Court to explain that he had in fact been behind the wheel at the time, not Noel.

Noel Gallagher was handed a fine and driving ban (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The singer had one driving lesson but never went back (Getty Images)

He claimed he did not respond to the letters because of postal strikes over Christmas. Gallagher admitted two counts of failing to give information relating to the identification of the driver on Wednesday. The Britpop superstar made the plea in his absence at Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court, where he was banned from driving for six months.

A further 12 penalty points were given to an existing six. Gallagher was also handed a £1,340 fine for the offences, costs of £110 and a victim surcharge of £536. The court heard how a letter was sent to the singer's home on January 5 asking for the driver's identity. A second letter was posted on February 9, in relation to the same incident that hadn't been responded to.

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In a letter written to court, he said: "I did not personally receive the notice or the reminder and neither were brought to my attention by my staff. I have a team who assist me with my business and personal matters, which includes correspondence to my home address. I acknowledge my responsibility to safeguard against important correspondence not being replied to. Once my management team notified me of receipt of this letter, I identified my willingness to comply. I am content with the court to proceed in my absence. Please note, I am currently working abroad."

Noel has previously shared how he quit learning to drive after just one disastrous lesson back in the 1990s. He said: "The woman who gave me the lesson… I was driving round a housing estate in Slough [Berkshire] and she said to me, ‘Pull in here’. I pulled over and she got out the car. She said, ‘I’ll be back in a minute’ and she came out with her mum. She’d driven me to her house and her mum was taking a picture of me in the street in Slough."

Things went from bad to worse when a nearby school bell sounded and the pupils started pouring out. He told Zoe Ball on the Radio 2 breakfast show: "I’m in a red Nissan Micra with a massive great big triangle on the top of it with an L, with all these kids coming out. This is at the height of Oasis mania. I was like, ‘never, never again am I getting in a car’."

The High Flying Birds front man has for years used a chauffeur to drive him around – but that hasn’t stopped him from splashing the cash on a fleet of expensive wheels, including a £110,000 vintage Jaguar with a modern chassis, which he previously labelled his "most expensive mistake". "I thought when I became a fully-blown rock star, I was gonna need a car," Noel said in 2019. "So I got a Mark 2 Jaguar from 1967, the year I was born. But they take about 18 months to two years to build, so I thought I’ll easily have learned to drive in two years."

He added: "This low-loader pulled up outside the house with this car on the back. I was putting the kettle on, thinking, ‘f***ing lovely car, that. I’m gonna get one of those, one day’. And the guy knocked on the door and said ‘Mr Gallagher? Your car!’ I’d forgotten that I’d bought the car."

Noel hadn’t learnt his lesson and splashed the cash on more cars, but never got round to driving any of them, he admitted to Zoe. "I’ve never fancied it - I’ve got a chauffeur, he’s outside, Big Al - he’ll be listening. I should [make him wear a hat] but no, he wears his own clothes and we drive around incognito," Noel laughed.

Mia O'Hare