It's tickets for top cop

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson says he is "gutted to have been so stupid" after getting his first speeding ticket in 40 years' driving.

Mr Robinson, who was in a rental car, was clocked at 97km/h in a 70km/h zone near Oamaru. The commissioner said he had set the cruise control for the open road and missed a sign to reduce his speed.

The patrol officer, who had recognised him, issued a $230 speeding ticket.

National police spokesman Tony Ryall said: "I think the irony of it is that someone who has lectured the country for so long about speeding has now got to find out these breaches can happen quite inadvertently."

But new Police Minister Annette King said the incident was "a demonstration that nobody is above the law".