? Naseem Hamed punished for not retaking test
? Former champion had earlier been disqualified for 15 months
The former world champion Naseem Hamed has been fined more than �1,000 after pleading guilty to driving offences after he drove following a lengthy ban without retaking his test first.
The former WBA world featherweight champion was jailed in 2006 for 15 months and disqualified from driving for four years after a crash that left another man with fractures to "every major bone in his body".
Hamed's driving ban ended in March last year and he was required to retake his driving test again before getting behind the wheel. But last August he drove his wife's car home after receiving a call to say his youngest son was sick, Woking Magistrates' Court heard.
Hamed did not appear in court on Wednesday but pleaded guilty in his absence to driving a vehicle otherwise in accordance with a driving licence and driving with no insurance.
Nick Freeman, defending, told the court the offence took place on 10 August after a friend took Hamed, now a property developer, for a drive to take his mind off his son's illness. He said the father-of-three's youngest son had been suffering from a bout of asthma that had required hospital treatment.
Mr Freeman said that, during the drive, Hamed, 37, was called by his wife to say their son was sick again. Hamed took the wheel and drove back to his home in Virginia Water, Surrey. Mr Freeman said: "He threw caution to the wind, parental instincts kicked in. He was stopped two minutes from his home.
"He readily acknowledges he should have taken the test and shouldn't have driven."
Hamed was handcuffed and arrested by the side of the road after police records wrongly recorded him as being a disqualified driver. He was later uncuffed after police realised he was no longer disqualified and held a provisional licence.
Chair of the Magistrates Anne Willmer fined Hamed �1,000 for driving with no insurance and ordered six penalty points to be added to his licence. He was fined �150 for driving without re-taking his test and was ordered to pay �43 costs and an additional surcharge of �15.
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