Richard Ashcroft – who fronted The Verve before going solo – was caught doing over the 40mph speed limit in his luxury £120,000 Mercedes G-Wagon
Indie icon Richard Ashcroft has been hit with a six-month driving ban and slapped with a £3,000 fine for speeding. Ashcroft – who fronted The Verve before going solo – was caught doing over the 40mph speed limit in his luxury £120,000 Mercedes G-Wagon. He was criticised by District Judge Daniel Benjamin for putting other road users at “risk of harm” when he was caught on the elevated section of the M4 by 8mph at Brentford, west London.
Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court was today told that the 54-year-old had nine relevant points on his licence already – from three previous speeding offences between December 16 2022 and October 21 2024. Ashcroft, who lives in a £4million mansion in in Richmond, south west London, did not attend the hearing, but pleaded guilty to one count of speeding.
Conall Bailie passed on Ashcroft’s apologies for his non-attendance, saying that he had an existing commitment that he was unable to break.
District Judge Benjamin, sentencing, said said that Ashcroft had reached the latest offence “without any intention of abiding by the speed limit”. Ashcroft was handed a further three points and given a six-month ban, and made to pay a total of £2,755 including the fine, statutory surcharge and prosecution costs. Mr Bailie said that Ashcroft had the means to pay the full total.
Ashcroft – whose hits include Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work and Lucky Man – has spent the last six months touring the country supporting Oasis. He performed in all 19 of the Manchester band’s British and Irish shows and appeared as special guest on the last five Oasis Live ’25 concerts in South America.
Speaking in October, Ashcroft revealed Oasis’ comeback tour had been an “emotional” experience. He said: “Society has become fractured and that feeling of all coming together at those shows felt so important. The older fans had missed Oasis and they were bringing their kids who had never seen them.
“It’s been a full-circle moment. “We’ve lost parents, we’ve lost friends, we’ve lived the dream and seen the dream disappear — so there are thousands of people bringing that emotion with them and the songs are the catalyst to express that emotion. It’s been a beautiful thing.”
He said both he and the Gallaghers were “in a bubble” back in the day. He said: “We didn’t really understand what was happening back then. Oasis supported us, then we supported them – we had magical times. Seeing songs like Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger were loved again this year was special.”
“You forget they always had a great work ethic. Liam’s been really good, looking after himself with his voice and stuff. I’ve had a chance to see a bit more of the places we’ve been to — I was down the beach in Edinburgh, and I met this great guy with these Irish wolfhounds in Dublin.
“I had people loving that stuff on my social media, but the photo that had most viewers was me having a pint at Edinburgh airport. When it’s my tour, I will be in Liam mode, too no pints for me.”
In 2024 Ashcroft’s Ferrari went up for sale for £44,990 including his signature. The 1998 456 GTA – which is capable of 192mph and boasts a 5.5 litre V12 engine – would have cost over £160,000 brand new.
