BERN, Switzerland -- A 37-year-old Swedish motorist caught driving his his Mercedes SLS AMG at 290km/h (180mph) in Switzerland could be given a world-record speeding fine of SFr1.08m ($1m; £656,000), prosecutors say - setting the new world record for the Largest Speeding Fine.

Under Swiss law, the level of fine is determined by the wealth of the driver and the speed recorded.

The previous World Record for the Largest Speeding Fine was set by a Ferrari Testarossa driver with a $290,000 speeding fine after the motorist reportedly drove through a Swiss village in a candy red Ferrari Testarossa at 137 km/h, which was 57 km/h over the speed limit.

Local police spokesman Benoit Dumas said of the latest case that "nothing can justify a speed of 290km/h".

"It is not controllable. It must have taken 500m to stop," he said.

The car - a Mercedes SLS AMG - has been impounded and in principle he could be forced to pay a daily fine of SFr3,600 for 300 days.

In Switzerland and Germany it is common for fines to be levied in such a way. In Switzerland the level of the fine is always dependent on a person‘s income - and clearly the suspect in this speeding affair is very rich indeed.

The car had evaded being zapped by a number of radars simply because it was too fast and the machinery was incapable of clocking speeds beyond 200kmh. A new generation of radar machines finally clocked the Swede travelling at close to 300kmh on the highway between Bern and Lausanne last Friday.

The man was caught by a speed camera on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne. The police arrested him shortly afterwards when he stopped in a layby and he was released after questioning.

he was collecting the brand new car from a seller in Germany.





...