Former Lords Speaker Baroness D’Souza has been suspended from the House for eight weeks after she sought to raise her repeated speeding offences with the Metropolitan Police commissioner.

In a letter to Sir Mark Rowley, the 81-year-old crossbench peer complained that her multiple speeding offences meant she might have to “give up attending Parliament”.

She asked Sir Mark if losing her licence was “a fair response for exceeding the speed limit while we are all still learning what a 20-mile-an-hour speed actually feels like?”

In a report last week. the Standards Commissioner Martin Jelley said it was “an attempt to influence” the police investigation.

In the Lords on Thursday, her suspension was confirmed by the chair of the conduct committee Lord Kakkar: “The Nobel Baroness to use her privileged position As a member of this house To influence a live criminal process For her benefit.”

Baroness D’Souza admitted her letter was “unwise” and said she regretted sending it.

But it is not the first time she has attracted controversy.

She was previously criticised for claiming thousands of pounds in expenses from the taxpayer for chauffeur driven cars.

This includes keeping a chauffeur-driven Mercedes waiting outside the Royal Opera House – just a mile from parliament – for four hours, before returning to the Lords at a cost of £230.40.

She also used a Mercedes to get from Westminster to Canterbury for the enthronement of Archbishop Justin Welby in March 2013 costing £627, freedom of information results found.

Her suspension from the Lords will be effective immediately for eight weeks.