My general feeling is a fine should be a punishment for committing the offence and therefore a deterrent against doing it again. To make any punishment meaningful you have to consider the circumstances of the individual. The article says his estimated wealth is 20 million. If he has 20 million in the bank then 290 thousand pound fine is meaningless. It will not be a punishment or a deterrent. On the other hand, his wealth may be one castle his family left him, and he may have no cash. If his punishment turned out to be that he had to sell his family home to pay the fine, then I may consider that unreasonable, for a speeding offence. So without knowing his full financial situation or his past offences and punishments, I still don't know whether it is too much or too little. What do you think?
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