A jury took just an hour and 45 minutes yesterday to find the former player-manager guilty of driving erratically on the M42 on December 30, 2006.

Coventry Crown Court heard that Claridge already has nine points on his driving licence.

The case has been adjourned for sentencing next month, but Judge Peter Carr has put an interim disqualification in place, immediately banning the 42-year-old from driving.

Judge Carr said he considered the dangerous driving conviction 'a serious matter'.

Claridge, from Fareham, claimed he had been desperate for the toilet and was trying to get to a service station as quickly as possible.

The police officers who pulled Claridge over had told the court how the TV and radio pundit had been jumping up and down like a child who needed the toilet.

He was driving home from a scouting trip to Blackpool at the time, and estimated he had drunk 'five or six small bottles' of water during the day.

They had seen him undertake several cars, and estimated his speed at up to 100mph.

Claridge was given three points on two occasions in 2005 for failing to give information identifying a driver, and given a further three in 2005 for speeding on a motorway.

Speaking afterwards, Claridge, who was with Pompey from 1998 to 2001, said: 'I am really disappointed and shocked.

'It's going to affect my work, but I have got to accept the decision now and I have got to get on with it.'

He will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court during the week of June 9.