Former Worthing councillor guilty of speeding offence

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."

He 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.

The 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."