Norwich City striker Grant Holt was today banned from driving for six months after he was convicted of a driving offence committed in Shropshire.Magistrates today dismissed Holt's application for special reasons for why the offence was committed and ordered the 29-year-old to pay �1,000 in fines and costs.

Norwich City striker Grant Holt was today banned from driving for six months after he was convicted of a driving offence committed in Shropshire.

Magistrates today dismissed Holt's application for special reasons for why the offence was committed and ordered the 29-year-old to pay �1,000 in fines and costs. He was disqualified under the totting-up procedure.

Holt, whose address was given as Warwick Road in Carlisle, addressed the magistrates during the hearing and explained that he had been “na�ve” but had not deliberately committed the offence.

The court had previously heard Holt had failed to give information about the identity of the driver of a car caught speeding near Whitchurch in April last year. Holt was found guilty of the offence in his absence last month.

Holt today said he accepted he had been driving the vehicle at the time and told magistrates in Oswestry he tried to resolve the matter and thought he had been doing this through the proper channels.

But Julie Fisher, prosecuting, said Holt had failed to submit the correct form to officials, which had led to a court summons.

Holt, a married father-of-two who has also played for Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest, told the court he had received a fixed penalty notice and three penalty points for an unrelated speeding offence and had tried to ask the DVLA to add three further points for the Whitchurch speeding offence but the organisation had lost his licence.

He said he also contacted the Central Ticket Office and Shrewsbury Magistrates Court to explain the situation.

He told the court that at the time of the offence he had been preparing for an important play-off final for Shrewsbury Town and was in the process of securing a move to Norwich.

He said: “If I had not been naive then I wouldn't be in this situation. I was in another part of the country receiving letters but this could have been sorted a long time ago. It's a shame it's come this far.”

Ian Durant, for Holt, said his client had not followed the letter of the law but had followed the spirit of the law by trying to inform authorities of his predicament but not through the proper channels.