Nottingham Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi has been ordered to pay more than £1,100 by a court after he was convicted of failing to tax his McLaren supercar. The 25-year-old Premier League star was prosecuted by the DVLA over the unpaid bill on his McLaren 765LT sports car.
Court papers show Hudson-Odoi became the registered keeper of the luxury vehicle in February 2024, and the annual tax expired at the end of January 2025. The DVLA said the McLaren was still untaxed nine months later when it was spotted on Southmill Street in Manchester at 8.50am on October 29 last year. Some McLaren 765LT cars, like Hudson-Odoi’s, have asking prices of more than £400,000.
Hudson-Odoi was given the chance by the DVLA for an out-of-court settlement, the agency said, but he did not respond to the offer. The footballer then faced a criminal prosecution for an offence of keeping a vehicle without a valid vehicle licence. Hudson-Odoi did not enter a plea, and was convicted at York Magistrates’ Court on April 20 in a fast-track hearing conducted in private in the Single Justice Procedure.
Magistrate Karen Shackleton ordered the footballer to pay a £660 fine, £410 in back tax, and £85 in costs. News of the conviction comes just after it was announced that Hudson-Odoi will miss the remainder of Forest’s season because of surgery for a leg injury.
The player, who signed for Forest from Chelsea in 2023, has registered six goals in 43 appearances this season, and earned three senior England caps in 2019. His side are still under the threat of relegation but have pulled clear of the drop zone in recent weeks. Forest are also battling for silverware in Europe, having taken a slender 1-0 lead in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash with Aston Villa.
