Campaigning singer Kate Nash has been landed with a court penalty of more than £1,000 after she missed a speeding ticket while she was away on tour.
The 37-year-old singer-songwriter and actress was behind the wheel of a Subaru which was caught on camera breaking a 20mph limit on the A41 through Hampstead last September.
The Metropolitan Police offered Nash a £100 fine to settle the matter, as long as she also attended a speed awareness course.
But the star, who dropped a new album last year and went on tour around the UK, to Europe, and to the US, missed the letter sent to her north London home.
She then faced a criminal prosecution, and despite a last-ditch plea to be allowed to pay the original penalty Nash was ordered by a magistrate to pay a £666 fine, a £266 victim surcharge, and £100 in costs.
Nash, who shot to fame in 2007 with her hit song Foundations and starred in Netflix show GLOW, revealed in November last year that she is now selling images on her bottom on OnlyFans.
At the time, she said she was making a loss on her tours, financially, and has chosen to use online profits to bankroll her singing career.
She spoke out to campaign for better pay for performing artists, pointing out how festival and ticket prices have gone up in recent years while artist fees have stayed the same.
She wrote about the financial challenges facing artists in the Standard last month.
The outcome of the court case, forcing her to shell out ten times the original £100 fine, will come as a blow to her finances.
Court papers show she was caught speeding at 25mph on September 5 last year.
“I have been unable to meet the timelines for paying the fine as I have been away from home”, she explained, in a letter to Wimbledon magistrates court.
“I am a touring music artist and had an incredibly busy touring and promotional schedule in 2024 as I released a new album in June 2024. As such, I spent the majority of the second half of last year away from home on tour and nobody was there to open my post.”
Nash explained that the first letter from police arrived when she was preparing for the Reeperbahn Festival, in Hamburg, Germany, towards the end of September.
“Immediately on return from Germany I was in rehearsals for my upcoming US tour”, she said. “The month-long US tour started on 10 October 2024 in Philadelphia and continued until 3rd November and I returned to the UK on 10th November.
“Following my return, I was in rehearsals for my UK tour from 12th to 17th November, promotion for the same on 18th to 20th November and then touring the UK, EU and Ireland until 19th December.”
She said the original letter from police was addressed to her partner, Thomas Silverman, and she replied to say she had been the driver of the speeding car.
“I then received a follow-up letter in November but this was while I was away on tour and my post was not being opened by anyone”, she set out.
“In this letter, I was asked to pay a fine and do a speed awareness course, which I indicated I was happy to do, but by the time I had received the letter I was advised it was too late to respond and agree to the course.
“I have tried as soon as I was aware of this to pay the fine and would be happy to attend a speed awareness course.
“I appeal to you to accept my plea for mitigating circumstances and allow me to pay the fine that was due originally in order to settle this matter.”
Nash was convicted after pleading guilty in the Single Justice Procedure, and she received three penalty points for her licence.
Magistrate Priscilla Rogan sat in private to sentence Nash, and appears to have assessed – based on her earnings – that Nash should face the maximum £1000 fine before deducting a third from the sentence to take into account her guilty plea.
The singer was given 28 days to settle the £1,032 total court bill.
