MAGISTRATES have fined a man more than £200 for hitting a speed of 11mph on a pleasure boat.

Mark Battle, of Valkyrie Close, Tollesbury, had been in control of the craft in Maldon in July last year.

Last month, he appeared in court accused of breaking a speed limit of eight nautical miles per hour – or eight knots – which is about 9mph.

According to the official charge, “the navigator of a pleasure boat caused or permitted the said vessel to exceed eight nautical miles per hour through the water”.

Officials at Colchester Magistrates Court considered the case on December 21 after Battle, 60, admitted the allegation.

Magistrates fined Battle £116 and ordered him to pay a surcharge of £46.

Battle was ordered to pay a further £75 costs, making a total of £237.

It is not the first time magistrates in Essex have fined members of the public for boating offences.

In November last year, magistrates fined 68-year-old Michael Miller for riding a Sea-Doo Spark watercraft across the water in Colchester.

Miller was ordered to pay a total of £380.