The comedian Steve Coogan has been found not guilty of a driving offence after it emerged that a friend was behind the wheel of his car when it was caught speeding.
Coogan, 46, told a court that it had "slipped my mind" that a friend was driving his Range Rover when it was caught doing 39mph in a 30mph zone.
The incident occurred on the A259 at Kingsway in Hove, East Sussex, just before 11.30am on October 12 last year.
Brighton Magistrates' Court heard Coogan was busy with TV and film work at the time of the incident, as well as being involved in suing News International and preparing for the Leveson Inquiry.
Coogan, famed for his alter ego Alan Partridge, told magistrates that he loaned vehicles out to friends, family and colleagues on a pool basis and could not remember who he had loaned the Range Rover to until months later.
The comedian, dressed in a blue suit and tie, said that at the time of the speeding offence he was on the telephone to the Guardian newspaper dictating an article and had later made stringent efforts to find out who was the driver.
Prosecutors dropped the speeding charge against him and magistrates cleared him of failing to notify police about who was driving after saying the case against him had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
