A MERCY dash led a Second Division footballer to court yesterday after police had clocked his BMW travelling at 109mph on a North Yorkshire motorway.

Grimsby Town full-back and captain, John McDermott, pleaded guilty to speeding as he headed north on the A1(M) at Allerton Park, near Knaresborough, on July 5.

McDermott, 34, who has been with the Mariners since he was a teenager, and is the only player ever to top 600 appearances for the club, was fined £300 with £65 costs and banned for 42 days by magistrates at Harrogate.

Solicitor David Smith, said McDermott, of Lilac Road, Brough, East Yorkshire, had been heading for his home town of Middlesbrough where his uncle, Tommy McDermott, had been seriously injured in a gas explosion.

Both Mr McDermott, 63, and his sister Pat, 77 - the footballer's aunt - had been taken to hospital where Mr McDermott had been detained with 50 per cent burns.

''He was keen to get there fairly quickly,'' said Mr Smith, adding that McDermott's BMW had only just been returned to him after repairs and he had become used to being at the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa, a completely different car. Mr Smith said the club's player-manager Paul Groves had written a testimonial on McDermott's behalf, showing the high regard in which he was held.

Updated: 10:58 Tuesday, October 07, 2003