Tour buses and family dramas: A brief history of One Direction’s run-ins with the law

There was once a time where boy bands sort of had a semi-rockstar edge. When Matt Willis, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne became Busted you could sort of still imagine them trashing a hotel room or breaking the neck of a guitar. But after that, things began to get a little tame. Or, so we thought.

Because looking back, the members of One Direction actually had quite a number of police altercations. Most recently Liam Payne, whose driver’s license was suspended on on Monday for speeding – hardly the most thrilling crime but, it’s giving something. So, as Liam renews his bus pass, here’s a look back at all of One Direction’s run-ins with the law:

Liam Payne’s long and winding speeding habit

Liam had his license suspended for six months this week after driving 43mph in a 30mph zone in West London. Obviously, that would normally only be enough for one of those speed awareness courses, but this isn’t Liam’s first time breaking the speed limit. So, the judge handed him a driving ban and a £293 fine, instead. “I did not realise the speed limit and apologise for speeding,” Liam said after his race down the A40. So, if you see him on public transport, say less.

Louis Tomlinson’s commitment to getting the perfect Instagram

Back in 2012, the One Direction tour bus was pulled over by the New York police after Louis climbed out of the bus’ sun roof while it was moving to take pictures of the city and film himself gliding through the streets. The bus was pulled over by the NYPD, with a source telling The Sun: “Louis was only standing through the sunroof momentarily but it was long enough to catch the eye of the cops. He may have found it funny but motorists stuck in a traffic jam certainly didn’t.” Oops.

Zayn Malik’s dramatic family altercation with Yolanda Hadid

Zayn had to go to court two years ago after Gigi Hadid’s mum Yolanda claimed he’d “struck her” during an argument and called her a “Dutch slut”. He denied the claims, and then pleaded no contest to four counts of harassment charges.

This July, Zayn spoke publicly about the incident for the first time on the Call Her Daddy podcast, saying he’d chosen not to comment previously for the sake of his family. “Any sort of narrative online where my daughter was going to look back and read that and be able to read into it and it would just be something that was…There was no point,” he said. “You don’t need a whole audience of people and opinions because it’s hard enough to manage between two.”

Niall Horan’s Uber-esque relationship with the police force in Ireland

When Niall’s at home in Ireland for Christmas he’s just like the rest of us: stumbling home on foot from a night out whenever we can’t get a cab: “Sometimes if I’m walking home [in Ireland], if I’m home around Christmas and there’s no taxis I’ll just start walking home,” he said on the Graham Norton Show. “The police will drive past me and pick me up and bring me home. I remember when they used to that for a different reason.” No further elaboration was provided.

Harry Styles’ very fake life of crime

Harry Styles has never actually been arrested but it sort of seems like he wishes he had. As, in 2017, ahead of a tour date in Oslo, he pretended to be in trouble with security, kicking his legs out as he’s carried away. There was also a weird moment in February 2021 where everyone thought Harry was going to jail because his lookalike was arrested for armed robbery in Pennsylvania, which would have been very off-brand.

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Featured image credit via Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock