A motorist was handed a $1.4m (£1.1m) dashing high-quality after going 35mph over the restrict – and claims he was then threatened with court docket motion until he paid it.

Connor Cato assumed the steep penalty was a typo after he was caught driving at 90mph in a 55mph zone within the US state of Georgia.

But when he phoned up officers to debate his high-quality, which was issued within the coastal metropolis of Savannah, Mr Cato says he was ordered to pay up regardless and was even given a date for his court docket look.

City employees later clarified the seven-figure sum had been a “placeholder” which was robotically generated by court docket laptop software program.

He advised WSAV-TV: “‘$1.4 million,’ the lady told me on the phone. I said, ‘This might be a typo’ and she said, ‘No sir, you either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on December 21 at 1.30pm’.”

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Officials stated the precise high-quality was prone to be as much as $1,000 (£821), however stated a choose would decide the ultimate quantity.

They added that Mr Cato should additionally seem in court docket due to the excessive velocity he was travelling at.

A spokesman for Savannah’s metropolis authorities, stated: “We do not issue that placeholder as a threat to scare anybody into court, even if this person heard differently from somebody in our organisation.”

He added that the court docket was “currently working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion.”