Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole has dropped his appeal against a driving ban, handed to him when he was found guilty of speeding at more than twice the legal limit.

Cole’s lawyers wrote to Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday, April 28, to abandon the appeal, two days before he was due to appear there in front of a judge.

Kingston magistrates handed him a four-month ban on January 29, when the court heard his black Lamborghini Gallardo reached 104mph in a 50mph zone on the A3 at Robin Hood Way.

He claimed he was being chased by paparazzi on November 17, 2008, when a police speed gun caught him and appealed the ban by questioning the reliability of the speed gun.

Cole was not in court on Thursday, April 29, and was represented by Katherine Hudson, who accepted the court’s application for an additional £950 costs.

The ban came into immediate effect for the 29-year-old, who recently moved from Oxshott to near Guildford.

At his original hearing, lead magistrate Patricia Baskerville said: “We have taken into account Mr Cole’s clean licence. However, this was an incident of excessive speed, over twice the speed limit on the road, and these were exceptional circumstances which we need to mark.”

Cole will now have to pay £1,950, including the new costs - just under 2 per cent of his weekly salary.