Former Arsenal star Jermaine Pennant in court after car insurance blunder

Former Arsenal and Liverpool player Jermaine Pennant has appeared before a court after driving without insurance.

The 43-year-old said that he made the trip to pick up his partner, who had broken her foot.

He has avoided a driving ban and instead was given a six-month conditional discharge after a judge ruled that he had special reasons as to why he should not be disqualified.

The 43-year-old was pulled over by the police on 2 September 2025.

Body-worn camera footage appeared to show him purchasing insurance on his phone in the car, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

It comes more than 20 years after the ex-winger served a one-month prison sentence for a drink-driving conviction.

The then 22-year-old became the first Premier League footballer to play a match wearing an electronic tag when he appeared for Birmingham City 48 hours after his release.

Police clocked Pennant driving his Audi A5 S Line without insurance on the A406 eastbound during the September incident, the court previously heard.

The TalkSport host told district judge Vanessa Lloyd on Monday that his cover had expired the day before.

He said that he had been shopping around for a new policy when his partner, who had injured her foot, called to ask him to drive her home.

“The next day, her foot was swelled to the point where we had to take her to hospital, and they said, ‘Yes, you’ve broken your foot and three toes’,” he said.

He had purchased one-day insurance 10 minutes before being pulled over but had not realised it would not take effect immediately, he said.

Prosecutor Deborah Kol put to Pennant that body-worn footage appeared to show him purchasing the insurance in the car, but he insisted he had been trying to open the insurance app to show officers he had cover.

“I wasn’t purchasing anything. I was trying to get the insurance up, that’s what I was trying to get up to show,” he added.

Pennant, who had previously denied the offence, said he changed his plea once the insurance company explained to him the policy did not activate immediately.

He told the court he had “messed up by 10 minutes” but understood that “rules are rules”.

Judge Lloyd said that Pennant would not have points added to his driving licence on the basis that he was “misled” by his insurance app and that he believed the policy would take effect immediately.

The six-month conditional discharge means the former footballer and pundit avoids a driving ban and will not be fined, but he was ordered to pay a £26 victim surcharge.

Pennant was arrested in January 2005 after he was spotted in a car park in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, driving a Mercedes with a lamppost dragging beneath it.

The former England under-21 star served one third of a three-month sentence at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes for drink-driving, driving while banned and using a vehicle without insurance.