Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam was cleared of speeding after a court heard of a serious error in the evidence.

Fixed penalty documents included two of Mr Kassam's names but omitted others.

The case at Oxford magistrates court was thrown out when the prosecution admitted there was no proof that Mr Kassam was driving the car.

His Bentley Azure was clocked at 43mph in a 30mph zone on the A329 at Little Milton, near Thame, on September 20 last year.

But Nick Freeman, defending, told the court that there was no way the prosecution could prove that Mr Kassam was behind the wheel of the car when the offence took place.

He added: "All we have heard is the evidence that a Bentley was travelling at excessive speed. No evidence whatsoever about who was driving this car has been given."

Edward Devereux, prosecuting, said the documents contained a very serious error.

Dismissing the case, District Judge Terry English said: "There is no evidence before me who was driving that vehicle on that occasion. Any one of five million people could have been driving it." Mr Kassam, who was not in court, said after the case: "I am delighted."

Oxfordshire Criminal Justice Unit later confirmed that a mistake on the fixed penalty notice issued to Mr Kassam was to blame. Ravi Sidhu, head of the unit, said the document issued by police, which required Mr Kassam to declare if he was driving his car at the time of the offence, contained a misprint and could not count as evidence.

He said: "In this case, the form was filled in by the driver of the vehicle but we could not prove, in court, that it was the right Firoz Kassam who had signed it because there was a mistake with the names.

"It was sent out with Mr Kassam's first two names but he has more than that. It did not have his full name on it so it did not identify him properly.

"The evidence on that form is evidence of who the driver was and without the correct names, we could not prove a thing."

Bryan Pritchard, manager of the Thames Valley Police Fixed Penalty Support Unit which issued the document, said: "We will be looking into the details of this technicality."