Romeo Beckham, the son of David and Victoria Beckham, has been convicted in court after being stopped by police while driving his Porsche 911. The 23-year-old model was caught scrolling on his phone and with a loose dog in the car.
Details of the incident
The incident occurred in Westminster last September. A police officer noticed Beckham with both hands on his phone instead of the steering wheel while waiting at a red light. A woman in the passenger seat was also looking at her phone and had an 'unrestrained' dog on her lap, according to court papers.
The officer stated that Beckham was 'distracted' and did not have proper control of the supercar. At Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 11, Beckham was convicted of being a driver not in a position to have proper control. He was fined £440 and received three penalty points on his licence.
Court orders and costs
Magistrate Phillip Jordan also ordered Beckham to pay £130 in costs and a £176 victim surcharge. The case comes almost seven years after his father, Sir David Beckham, was banned from driving for six months for using his mobile phone at the wheel in 2019.
In that case, the former England footballer admitted using his phone in slow-moving traffic in the West End. He told the court he would miss driving his children to school during the ban.
Police observation
Romeo Beckham was caught by Metropolitan Police Pc Luke Short on September 16 last year. He was waiting at a red traffic light in Victoria Street, Westminster, just before 11.20am. The officer noted the driver was 'distracted' due to the scene inside the car.
In his statement, the officer wrote: 'As I passed the vehicle on its nearside, I looked down to my right and noted that there was an unrestrained dog sitting on the female passenger’s lap. The female had her head down and was holding a mobile phone. I looked across at the driver. I saw that he too had his head tilted down and appeared to be looking down at a mobile phone he was holding low in his lap, near the base of the steering wheel. I could see that he was scrolling on the device with his thumbs.'
Highway Code and consequences
Rule 57 of the Highway Code states that dogs must be 'suitably restrained' in a vehicle. Drivers can be prosecuted for driving without proper control or careless driving if the animal causes a distraction. The officer decided to offer Beckham words of advice concerning the insecure load, namely the dog.
Romeo's brush with the law came days after he debuted a new platinum blonde buzzcut at a New York Fashion Week event. Two days after the incident, he made his runway debut at London Fashion Week for the H&M show.
Police said Beckham was given the chance to pay a fine and attend a driver awareness course to avoid criminal proceedings for using his phone, but he did not respond. He was then prosecuted through the single justice procedure, which handles driving offences in private hearings. The court said Romeo did not enter a plea when written to at his luxury south-west London apartment, and he was convicted based on police evidence.
