British grime/drill rapper Stormzy has been banned from driving in the United Kingdom [UK] for nine months.
This comes after off-duty police officer caught the rapper using a mobile phone behind the wheel of his Rolls-Royce vehicle in London.
Via a letter to the courts, the 31-year-old rapper pleaded guilty to the offense. The offense took place on the 7th of March Addison Road in west Kensington, London.
The district judge Andrew Sweet criticised the British musician’s “dangerous and irresponsible” actions. “Get rid of your tints and get off your phone”, The Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court heard that the off-duty police officer knocked on the tinted window of Stormzy’s Rolls-Royce Wraith and said.
The rapper who was not in court was fined him £2,010 (around $2,500) after getting banned from driving for nine months. Stormzy already had six penalty points on his driving license from previous offenses as revealed to the court.
Stormzy had previously in 2023 admitted to driving a Lamborghini Urus that had front windows illegally tinted to only 4% light transmission, violating the 70% requirement as noted by the prosecutor Alice Holloway.
The rapper had earlier in October 2023 being stopped by officers on Coombe Lane, in Kingston upon Thames, London, having previously been warned about the windows. Stormzy’s solicitor Peter Csemiczky said that his client accepted responsibility for the offenses and apologized. He added that the rapper had removed the tints.
In 2024, Stormzy scored a No.1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart with a team-up with rave duo Chase & Status. Their single “Backbone” hit the top spot in August 2024, while Stormzy released his most recent full-length LP, This Is What I Mean, in November 2022.
