The controversial former owner of BHS, Dominic Chappell, has been banned from driving for six months for speeding.

Chappell, who acquired BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 in March last year, was clocked driving 63.9mph in a 40mph zone in Andover on April 6.

He reportedly told an officer that had recorded his speed: “I used to be a race car driver”.

Chappell has been under scrutiny since Retail Week first revealed in April BHS was entering administration. The last of the department chain’s 163 stores are set to close this weekend after administrators were unable to find a buyer for the 88 year-old retailer.

Chappell had urged magistrates to allow him to keep his licence so he could attend London meetings relating to BHS’s collapse.

Michael Levy, representing Chappell, said his client was “assisting two parliamentary committees, the insolvency service, the joint administrators and actively assisting the pensions regulator”.

Chappell also pleaded the the ban would cause him hardship. However his plea was rejected during a hearing at Aldershot Magistrates Court yesterday.

In a report last month, MPs claimed that Chappell had been “out of his depth” over BHS. “He was over-optimistic to the point of arrogance,” the report said.

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