Liam Payne has been banned from driving in Britain for six months. Photo: TNS
Liam Payne has been banned from driving in Britain for six months.
The former One Direction singer lost his behind-the-wheel privilege after admitting to speeding in a 30-mile-per-hour (50km/hr) zone. In February, Payne had been travelling at a rate of 43 miles per hour (70km/hr) on the A40 Westway flyover in the west London area, according to the BBC.
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to the offense and apologised for speeding in a written statement to the London court, the Evening Standard reported earlier this month, saying that Payne "did not realise the speed limit."
In addition to the ban, the Strip That Down" singer was fined £293 (RM1,701.80) in addition to other charges and fees, the BBC said. He did not appear in court for his sentencing hearing, which was processed through the court's written evidence-based Single Justice Procedure.
The driving ban comes after the musician revealed in an Aug 25 Instagram video that he was postponing his tour in South America after being diagnosed with a kidney infection.
"Over the past week I've been in hospital with a serious kidney infection, it's something I wouldn't wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover," he said.
"I've just been advised that now is really not the right time to be out on the road trying to recover from this. I have the best people around me trying to help me to recover as I speak."
Payne was due to kick off the tour in Lima, Peru, on Sept 1 and had planned to travel to Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia before he called off the trek due to his illness. He was out of the hospital by Sept 20, according to his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.
"So I've gotten a lot of comments about Liam, asking how he's doing," the influencer said on TikTok last month. "I just want to let everybody know that he's doing so much better. He's out of the hospital and he's in good hands."
Cassidy made her red carpet debut with Payne at the Britain Fashion Awards back in December and was said to be vacationing with him in Lake Como, Italy, when he was hospitalised.
The Sun reported that Payne had returned to Britain and was recovering in his mansion outside of London.
The musician joined One Direction in 2010, making a name for himself globally alongside bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. The group came together on the ITV talent competition X Factor and racked up a slew of hits, including What Makes You Beautiful and Steal My Girl, before going on hiatus in 2015 after Malik's abrupt exit.
Payne, like his disbanded counterparts, went on to launch a solo career punctuated by the songs Strip That Down, Get Low, Familiar featuring J Balvin and For You with Rita Ora.
Earlier this year, the singer – who has not released an album since 2019 – said he was working on a new album. He also marked 100 days of sobriety in July after a stint in rehab in Louisiana.
Payne previously said that he turned to alcohol as a way to cope with the intense fame that enveloped One Direction. In 2022, he got critical of his former bandmates during an interview with Logan Paul, positioning himself as the most successful 1D alum and saying he "disliked" Malik.
"A lot of what I said came from the wrong place," Payne explained in July after marking his sobriety milestone. "I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else and I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really." – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
