Jermaine Pennant avoids driving ban after insurance lapse by 10 minutes

Jermaine Pennant has avoided a driving ban after a judge ruled he had special reasons for driving without insurance, handing the former Arsenal and Liverpool winger a six-month conditional discharge at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Pennant, 43, was pulled over by police on the A406 eastbound on 2 September 2025 while driving his Audi A5 S Line. His insurance had expired the day before, and he told district judge Vanessa Lloyd that he had been shopping for a new policy when his partner called asking him to drive her home after injuring her foot — an injury later confirmed to be a broken foot and three toes.

The TalkSport host said he had purchased a one-day insurance policy 10 minutes before being stopped, but had not realised the cover would not take effect immediately. Body-worn camera footage shown in court appeared to show him using his phone in the car, though Pennant insisted he was attempting to open the insurance app to show officers he had cover, not completing a purchase.

“I wasn’t purchasing anything. I was trying to get the insurance up, that’s what I was trying to get up to show,” he told the court.

Pennant, who had initially denied the offence, said he changed his plea after the insurance company clarified that the policy did not activate immediately. He acknowledged he had “messed up by 10 minutes” but accepted that “rules are rules”.

Judge Lloyd declined to add points to his licence on the basis that he had been “misled” by his insurance app and genuinely believed the policy was active. Alongside the conditional discharge, Pennant was ordered to pay a £26 victim surcharge but faces no fine and no ban.

The case revives memories of a more serious conviction more than two decades ago. Pennant served a one-month prison sentence for drink-driving in 2005 and, at 22, became the first Premier League footballer to play a match while wearing an electronic tag, appearing for Birmingham City just 48 hours after his release.