MIDDLESBROUGH and former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan lost his driving licence yesterday after police clocked his blue Porsche travelling at 100mph on a motorway.

Whelan, 27, who left his native Leeds for a spell with Coventry City before signing for the Teesside club, was still living in the Midlands and heading home on Sunday, August 25, when his speed was checked on the A1(M) at Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.

The £18,000-a-week former England Under-21 international, who now lives with his wife, Sasha, and three children in Walton Avenue, Harrogate, admitted speeding and was banned from driving for 28 days, fined £750, and ordered to pay £50 costs by Harrogate magistrates.

Whelan, who had previous convictions for speeding in 1999 and 2000, told the court he had spent more than two years travelling up and down the A1 after leaving Coventry, and said of his latest indiscretion: "I hold my hands up. It was wrong."

He said he had been "pushed" by someone driving fast close behind him and had been unable to move from the outside to centre lane to get out of the way because of the weight of traffic.

But court chairman John Metcalfe, told him: "I don't buy that. You can always slow down."

Other North-East Premiership footballers to fall foul of the speed gun in recent years include Newcastle United star Kieron Dyer and Middlesbrough-born Jonathan Woodgate.

In April, Leeds and England defender Woodgate was banned from driving for six months after clocking up five speeding offences in four years.

He was also fined £600 with £750 costs after he was caught driving at 91mph on the A1 at Dishforth, North Yorkshire.

At an earlier hearing, at Richmond Magistrates' Court, he was fined £500 with £250 costs for driving at 97mph on the A19 between Thirsk and Northallerton.

Newcastle and England midfielder Dyer was banned for two months and fined £1,000 after he was caught doing more than 100mph, in July last year, on the A1(M) in County Durham.