Former Worthing councillor guilty of speeding offence
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Vinojan Vijayakumar, known as Vino Vinojan, appeared at Worthing Magistrates' Court today (Friday, October 18) charged with speeding.
The court heard how Mr Vinojan was caught by a speed camera travelling at 38mph in a 30mph zone on Lewes Road in Brighton on February 3 in a Peugeot car. He said: "I thought it was a 40mph zone."
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Hide AdHe pleaded guilty to the charge, and was sentenced to three points on his licence and ordered to pay a £115 fine, a victim surcharge of £30 and prosecution costs of £85.
Mr Vinojan is a Conservative Party member and a former Worthing Borough Councillor for Central ward until he stepped down in 2016. He then launched an unsuccessful bid for a West Sussex County Council seat in Tarring in 2017, losing to Bob Smytherman.
He previously appeared in court as a witness after receiving a death threat at a polling station in 2017 and was recently forced to close the village shop in High Salvington which he had run for 15 years.
Mr Vinojan said he 'had a new job' but was 'finding it hard at the moment', so the magistrates agreed he could pay on November 18 after his pay cheque.
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Hide AdThe court heard how the case had previously been dealt with at Crawley Magistrates' Court on September 9, but Mr Vinojan was unaware until a few days later as the correspondence was being sent to his work address rather than his home address, to which his driving licence was registered.
Following a declaration by Mr Vinojan, chairman of the bench David Worcester said they would withdraw an extra charge that had been made against him and reduce his punishment.
He said: "I would stress we take full account of your guilty plea, otherwise the sanction would have been higher."