A MOTORCYCLIST who rode at 82mph through a 30mph zone has been banned from driving.

Lee-Roy Campbell was recorded speeding on the A61 Leeds Road on a black Yamaha R1 performance motorbike at 10am on a Sunday morning in March, and caught on a North Yorkshire Police safety camera.

The 53-year-old, of Duncan Close, Harrogate, was charged with exceeding a speed limit and pleaded guilty to speeding when he appeared at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, April 17.

Traffic Constable Andy Forth from North Yorkshire Police’s Traffic Bureau, said Campbell's speeds while travelling through central Harrogate were "frankly ludicrous", and he could have killed someone.

TC Forth said: "He deliberately placed innocent pedestrians and other road users in serious jeopardy – if he’d hit a child or even an adult at that speed, their chances of surviving would have been virtually zero.”

Magistrates disqualified Campbell from driving for seven months, and ordered him to pay £569 in fines and prosecution costs.

TC Forth urged motorbike riders to take extra care as the weather improves.

He said: "As the biker season begins and riders amass in North Yorkshire, this is a timely reminder that no road users are immune from prosecution if they speed in North Yorkshire. Speeding can have serious and life changing consequences, which is why we enforce it.

“We see these consequences regularly – our officers have to pick body parts up from crash scenes and break horrific news to families of people who have died. If motorists saw those things too, I guarantee it would make them think twice about speeding."