The paperwork took barely four months to turn a routine letter from the DVLA into a conviction. Omar Marmoush, the striker Tottenham signed on a season-long loan from Manchester City in late August, was found guilty on October 5 at Teesside Magistrates’ Court. The 27-year-old’s fine, costs and victim surcharge came to £408.

The vehicle at the centre of the case is a McLaren 720S valued at around £250,000. The DVLA issued a fixed penalty on June 17 after the supercar was found neither insured nor declared off the road through a Statutory Off Road Notification. When Marmoush did not pay and did not reply to subsequent court paperwork, prosecutors sent the file to magistrates to decide without him.

Decided under the Single Justice Procedure

The case was handled under the Single Justice Procedure, the system England and Wales use for non-imprisonable summary offences such as speeding, driving without insurance and TV licence evasion. A single magistrate, sitting in private with a legal adviser, reads the prosecution’s evidence and any written response from the defendant, then decides the case. There is no public hearing unless the defendant asks for one.

Marmoush did neither. Court papers reported by Goal state he “did not respond to the paperwork or enter a plea,” which under the procedure lets the magistrate find the case proved on the prosecution evidence alone. The breakdown of the sanction is a £220 fine, £100 in costs and an £88 victim surcharge.

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A £408 bill on a Premier League contract

The gap between the sum involved and the player’s market value is the striking part. The loan that brought Marmoush to north London on August 27 includes an obligation to make the move permanent, reported by Al Jazeera at £50m plus a further £10m in add-ons. He had joined Manchester City from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025 but spent much of his time at the Etihad as understudy to Erling Haaland.

The conviction carries no sporting consequence. Driving without insurance is non-imprisonable, triggers no sanction from the Premier League or the FA, and the £408 total set by the court is the final penalty in the case.

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