A doctor who drove his Ferrari at 139mph on a dual carriageway has been banned from the road for just three months.

Dr Faheem Obaidullah was snapped travelling at nearly double the maximum speed limit on the A23 by officers in an unmarked police car.

He was spotting travelling northbound in the Warninglid area on May 11 last year at about 9.30am.

Officers had to drive to Pease Pottage before they could catch up with him.

But magistrates in Haywards Heath banned the 29-year-old from the road for just three months and ordered him to pay £1,307 in costs.

Police said it was one of the worst cases of speeding the force had ever seen and that Obaidullah, of Byegrove Road, London, could have killed someone if he had hit their vehicle at that speed.

And last night road safety campaigners criticised the leniency of the sentence.

Norman Evenden, whose grandchildren Aaron and Katherine Sharpe were among eight people killed in a horror accident on the A23 in 2004, said people needed to be more aware of the danger they created by speeding on the road.

He said: “The faster you go the more risk there is. The trouble is young drivers often don’t realise that.”

Inspector Andy Judson, from Sussex Police's Road Policing Unit, said: "You are facing a fatality if you have an accident at that speed.

“This man clearly disregarded not only the speed limit but also the signs advising drivers that unmarked police cars operate along the A23 every day and at all hours.

“It is completely unacceptable to drive in this totally irresponsible manner and those who choose to do so will be targeted to prevent them seriously injuring or killing themselves or others.

“We are determined to make speeding as socially and morally unacceptable as drink-driving - it is potentially just as fatal."

Neil Hopkins, from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, said: "We launched the unmarked police vehicles operating signs in January 2007 on the A23.

“During 2008 there were 78 fatal and 943 serious casualties on the roads of Sussex.

“That is on average six people a month killed, with around 80 seriously injured. Sadly we will have continued casualties on our roads which could and should be avoided if continued dangerous and thoughtless actions by individuals on the roads were not connected with excess speed."

Sussex Police has launched Operation Crackdown to encourage people to report those driving antisocially.

Anyone concerned about any antisocial driving or riding issues, including drink or drug driving or mobile phone use at the wheel, can contact the Operation Crackdown hotline on 01243 642222 or visit www.operationcrackdown.org.