A SAINTS star has been banned from the roads for a year and ordered to pay £96,425 after failing to tell police who was driving his high-powered Mercedes when it was caught speeding three times.

Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina, who already had 21 points on his licence, claimed he didn't know who was driving the 155mph car when it was caught on speed camera as his brother and cousin were visiting and could have been behind the wheel.

He admitted all three charges, but three charges of speeding - driving at 95mph on a dual carriageway and twice driving at 60mph in a temporary 40mph speed limit - were dropped.

Lemina's lawyer said the former Juventus player, who cost Southampton a record £18.1m last year, had family visiting throughout that time and did not know who was driving.

Lemina had failed to respond to letters sent to him by Hampshire Police asking him to identify the driver of the rare £50,000, 370bhp Mercedes-AMG 4matic yellow night edition.

He was handed a further 18 points on his licence, bringing the total to a staggering 39. Magistrates described this as 'the most we have ever seen'.

The Gabonese footballer, who earns £32,272 per week, did not appear in court himself, relying on his lawyer, Cliff Morris, to enter his pleas at Aldershot Magistrate’s court, Hants.

Mr Morris said: “He didn’t realise the importance of the forms.

“English is not his first language, and his English is not particularly good.

“He is not sure if his brother or his cousin was driving the vehicle at the time and the photographs don’t assist with this.

“He thought it best to plead guilty to failing to provide identification.”

The court heard the 25-year-old already had 21 points on his non-UK driving license.

Mr Morris continued: “He accepts he should have filed the paperwork.

“The football club only discovered he had paperwork when he attended his office to assist with other matters – his wife has just had a baby in the last 10 days.

“There’s a degree of disorganisation. He knows what this will automatically mean for him.”

Fining Lemina £32,000 for each offence, magistrate Carol Bode said: “This would have been £48,000 for each offence, but we have taken into account his guilty pleas.

“He will pay a further £85 costs on each case, and a victim surcharge of £170, which makes a £96,425 total to pay.

“For each of those offences to fail to ID is 6 points on the licence – that is 18 points.

“Given he has 21 points already, it comes to 39 points and we will disqualify him from driving for one year.

“39 points – I think that’s the most amount of points we have ever seen in court.”

She warned that Lemina, who lives in the pretty village of Ashley Heath, near Ringwood, Dorset, should look out for a payment notice from the fines office.