A Lakenheath mechanic who was caught going 154mph in his Seat Leon on the A11 has been banned from driving for 56 days.

Louie Howlett, 21, of Lakenheath high street, admitted going more than double the national speed limit on the A11 southbound at Icklingham.

When quizzed by magistrates in Bury St Edmunds this morning what was going through his mind at the time, he said: 'Not a great deal.'

'This really was a stupid thing to do, I hope you appreciate that fact, especially as you will be paying a lot of money for a long time,' said chairman of the magistrates Sue Burton-Griffiths.

Howlett was caught at 8.55pm on April 18 this year.

Magistrates left the room to consider Howlett's sentence, coming back with the 56-day ban and also handing him a £250 fine, plus additional costs bringing the total he owed the court up to £365.

'I'm very sorry for what I've done,' Howlett told the court.

He said he had some 'issues' at home and worked as a mechanic at Gorse Motors in Barnham.

Howlett was caught by a laser speed detector in an unmarked police BMW that was patrolling in the area.

Inspector David Giles from Suffolk Constabulary said afterwards the shortness of the ban did not send out the right message.

'There can be no excuses and I'm not condoning speeding at all, but we're faced with a world here that someone can get caught four times doing less than 40mph and get a ban for far longer than someone doing 154mph,' he said.

'I don't know if it's the highest we've ever had in Suffolk but it's certainly up there and the highest in recent times.'

He described 154mph as a 'shocking speed'.

'He's a young driver, an inexperienced driver. He's a got a modified car, I understand, but police are trained to pursue people and enforce the law at a high speed,' Insp Giles added.

'I would have expected a year's ban for that and going forward when he gets his licence back a retake of his driving test. I don't think a £365 fine is at all significant.'

After speaking outside the court Insp Giles has now formally lodged a formal request for a review of the sentence to be carried out.

This was Howlett's first offence and he had a clean licence before his court appearance after four years of driving.