Football pundit Joe Cole was pursued along Victoria Embankment by police after being accused of speeding, a court has heard.
The former Chelsea and England forward, 42, was allegedly caught breaking a 20mph limit while at the wheel of a BMW on February 2.
Cole has hired the services law firm of Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman as he intends to fight the speeding charge at trial.
Court papers obtained by the Evening Standard reveal Cole did not initially pull over because he believed another motorist was being flagged down by police, leadingto a short pursuit along the Embankment.
PC Jonathan Hughes, in a witness statement, said he was stationed on Victoria Embankment near to Blackfriars Bridge when he spotted Cole’s car allegedly going at 33mph.
“I stepped out into the carriageway and instructed the vehicle to stop”, wrote the City of London Police officer.
“It came to a brief stop before continuing westbound.
“I did not believe it was an intentional 'fail to stop' but believed it to be more confusion on the driver's part about which vehicle I was stopping.
“I got into my marked police vehicle and caught up with the same vehicle on Victoria Embankment junction with Northumberland Avenue.”
He said Cole then “stated that the reason he didn't stop initially was because he thought I was stopping another vehicle”.
Mr Freeman attracted the ‘Mr Loophole’ tag after using his highly-specialised knowledge of driving laws in defence of a string of high-profile clients.
Stars who have called for the services of Mr Loophole including Jeremy Clarkson, David Beckham, and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Cole himself was previously represented by Mr Freeman in 2010 after being caught driving at 105 mph on the A3 in Surrey.
The lawyer successfully applied for the footballer’s driving ban to be suspended, because his wife was still traumatised and needed driving around after an earlier car-jacking.
In the new case, City of London Police say Cole was written to at his £7 million home in Chelsea in February and did not comply with an offer to deal with the matter out-of-court.
Damien Simmonds, a solicitor with Freeman and Co, wrote to Bromley magistrates court to say the ex-footballer, who now works as apundit for TNT Sports, would be pleading not guilty to the charge of speeding.
He blamed an “administrative error” for a delay in the plea being entered, and set out three areas of Cole’s defence.
“The speed alleged is disputed and the prosecution must establish the admissibility of the reading obtained by the speed detection device”, wrote Mr Simmonds.
“The second issue is that the prosecution must establish that the Victoria Embankment at the location in question was subject to a 20mph speed limit. In this regard they must establish the status of the road and that the supposed speed limit is properly and lawfully in force and denoted.”
Cole’s third challenge is that the police force has complied with legal requirements when identifying the ex-footballer as the driver and bringing the prosecution.
He asked for a trial date to be set, with two hours of court time set aside.
