Former England football player Paul Merson has been ordered to pay more than £1,600 after failing to pay road tax on his vehicle for half a year. Magistrates issued the financial penalty to the Sky Sports pundit, who apologized for what he described as an honest oversight.
An automatic number plate recognition camera in Cardiff detected his £20,000 VW Touareg lacking valid tax in March. The fifty-eight-year-old resident of Teddington, South West London, spoke before magistrates sitting in Croydon, South London. "I honestly thought I'd done it," he stated. "I'm very sorry."
Court records confirmed that the tax on the £20,000 vehicle had lapsed six months prior. Merson entered a guilty plea to operating a car lacking a valid vehicle licence through the Single Justice Procedure.
The former Arsenal double champion received a six-month driving disqualification in 2024 following three speeding offenses within one month using the same automobile. Furthermore, he served a 14-month driving ban in 2011 after falling asleep while driving and colliding with a lorry on the M40 motorway close to Warwick.
During his athletic career, Merson claimed league titles with Arsenal in 1989 and 1991, alongside an FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993. He also earned 21 caps for the England national team and received praise for openly discussing his past struggles with alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions.
