THE managing director of the Skelwith Group of hotel and property companies has been banned from driving after police clocked him doing 100 mph on the A1 in North Yorkshire.

Paul James Ellis, who started his property business in York, was driving a new Mercedes SL63 at the time of the incident which was the third time he had been caught speeding, York magistrates heard.

He tried to persuade them not to ban him on the grounds it would cause him “exceptional hardship” because of family circumstances.

He told them he had 20-plus companies which overall were making a “slight loss”.

The Skelwith Group has its head office in York and is behind a number of prestigious developments, including the Raithwaite Hall country retreat, near Whitby, and The Flaxby luxury hotel, now being built near Knaresborough.

Magistrates rejected his plea to keep driving and told him there was “plenty of transport” available in London he could use for hospital visits. They banned him from driving for six months under the tottingup rules. They also fined him £1,500 with a £120 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

He already had six penalty points on his licence from speeding convictions on November 6, 2011, and February 9, 2012. Mr Chant said Ellis was “not a man who persistently speeded.”

Ellis, 36, of Temple Fortune in north-west London, pleaded guilty to speeding. He did not comment as he left court.

Prosecuting, Cathy Turnbull said police recorded him doing 100 mph on the A1 at Selby Fork near South Milford at 4.45pm on July 2.

Ellis told the court he employed more than 150 people in his companies and needed to visit his hotels on a weekly basis. So he drove 50,000 miles a year, commuting from London by getting up at 4am, driving up to Yorkshire and leaving between 2pm and 6pm to return to his family.