A biker was jailed yesterday after being caught riding at 157mph, the fastest speed ever recorded by police on a British road.

Andrew Osborne, 29, of Lighthorne Heath, Leamington Spa, was clocked by a speed gun on a dual carriageway near Buckingham as he overtook a lorry on his Kawasaki 1200cc.

He was just ahead of his friend and fellow biker Neil Bolger, also 29, of Lower Quinton, Stratford-upon-Avon, who was riding at 148mph on his 750cc Kawasaki.

Both men pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing and were jailed for 28 days when they appeared at Aylesbury magistrates court yesterday. The chairman of the bench, David Thomas, told Osborne and Bolger that they would serve half of their sentence in prison and that the rest would be suspended.

The court was told by Darren Rogers, Osborne's lawyer, that the two men were not drunk and had not been racing each other.

A police technician with a speed gun saw a biker leaning heavily as he overtook a lorry on a sweeping left-hand bend of the A412 in March this year.

Moments later, the technician saw a second rider on a large motorbike overtake the same lorry.

Both men voluntarily attended Milton Keynes police station where they admitted being the riders of the bikes.

Mr Rogers said his client was "hugely remorseful" and had written an article in Motorcycle News saying his actions were "not big and not clever". He had just put on a short burst of speed to overtake the lorry. Osborne, who has sold his motorbike and travels to work on a bicycle, told the court: "I would just like to say I am deeply sorry for my actions and I regret them fully."

Defending Bolger, Nicholas Devine said his client was a family man and that the case and associated media coverage had been a "traumatic ordeal" for him.