WHEN management consultant Christopher Walker saw a car speed away from his TVR sports car on the A1(M), the urge to follow was too strong to resist.

But, as he wound up his "pride and joy" to 116mph while travelling south at Boroughbridge, in North Yorkshire, police were watching and booked him.

Walker, 23, pleaded guilty yesterday to breaking the 70mph limit in his S-registered car. He was fined £500, with £35 costs, and disqualified from driving for 56 days.

Presiding magistrate Vivienne Crabb told him his excessively high speed had caused the court great concern.

"It was extremely dangerous to yourself and other road users," she said.

Geoffrey Rogers, mitigating, said that, a day earlier, Walker had finished a two-year contract at the National Insurance headquarters, in Newcastle.

He was on his way home to Hoyland Swaine, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, for a weekend with his parents before starting a new contract in Cardiff.

"A vehicle pulled out and sped away in front of him. He reacted, put his foot down and followed," said Mr Rogers.

The TVR had been Walker's pride and joy and, as well as normal driving, he used it for track days off the public roads.

But he had learned his lesson and was selling the car.

He would buy something less powerful and more in line with the way he should be driving, the court heard.