Richard Ashcroft has been banned from driving for six months and ordered to pay a fine after being caught speeding.
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The former frontman of The Verve was sentenced this week (January 7) at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court in London, and was ordered to pay a total of £2,755 after being found to have travelled 8mph over the 40mph limit on the elevated section of the M4 in Brentford in February last year.
The court was told that Ashcroft already had nine relevant points on his licence from three previous speeding offences between 2022 and 2024, and he has now been given an additional three points, incurring a six-month driving ban.
Ashcroft did not attend the hearing but pleaded guilty to the single count of speeding. His defence, Conall Bailie, said the singer had an unchangeable existing commitment. District Judge Daniel Benjamin ruled that he had put other road users at “risk of harm”.
Ashcroft had a big 2025, playing as the opening act at all of Oasis’ comeback shows in the UK and Ireland in July and August, and then joining them again for their South American tour in November.
At one of the opening nights in Cardiff, a fan went viral for Shazamming The Verve’s classic single ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. Ashcroft later described the moment as “a beautiful thing” as it meant that the individual was “a brand new fan, joining the team”.
“Be proud! Why should everyone know everything? They may have only heard that song before England play football on ITV,” he said. “If someone doesn’t recognise a famous painting, so what? We can’t be cultural snobs. I’d love to get her on stage with her phone when I’m doing ‘Bitter Sweet’. That would be really funny.”
2026 is set to be another big year for Ashcroft – he will be playing a string of UK arena shows in March and April, in celebration of his long-awaited seventh solo album ‘Lovin’ You’, which was released in October.
He will also be headlining Sheffield’s Rock N’ Roll Circus this summer, as well as Victorious Festival in Portsmouth, Neighbourhood Weekender in Warrington and TRNSMT in Glasgow.