Paul Hollywood convicted after speeding at 96mph to race cat to vet
Topics: Celebrity, UK Food, TV and Film
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, UK Food, TV and Film
Paul Hollywood has been convicted after pleading guilty to speeding down a major motorway while transporting his ‘sick’ pet cat to the vets.
The 60-year-old, best known for his continuous 16-year tenure on The Great British Bake Off, was ordered to pay a £293 fine at Worthing Magistrates’ Court after clocking 96 mph in his Land Rover Defender on 9 January.
According to a Surrey Police officer, Alexander McAlpine, Hollywood was using his car to ‘repeatedly bully other vehicles’ out of his way by tailgating.
Hollywood’s motorway escapade was caught on dash cam, as per the BBC.
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"Whenever there was a vehicle ahead, the driver would close up to a follow distance of less than five metres, which was wholly inappropriate for the conditions and speed,” the officer claimed.
When he was pulled over by an unmarked police car for ‘aggressively tailgating other road users’ and allegedly reaching speeds of 105mph, the star blamed his behaviour on a desire to take his unwell cat to the vets, a court heard.
The BBC reported that on top of the three-figure fine, the cook was ordered to pay £120 in costs and a £117 victim surcharge.
Court officials also handed him five penalty points, which were added to his license.
According to the publication, Hollywood had no penalty points on his licence when he was pulled over by the police officer in January.
In a statement, Peter Csemiczky, a partner at Hickman and Rose law firm, said that his client had ‘accepted’ that he was driving too fast.
"Mr Hollywood accepts he was driving too fast. He was rushing home to get his unwell cat to the vet. He understands this is no excuse and apologises for his actions.”
He added that the celebrity chef, who has previously competed at Le Mans in the Aston Martin festival, ‘understood [that] he would be punished’.
Hollywood, a Big Cat Sanctuary ambassador, was also accused of driving without due care and attention. He denied the charge and it was later dropped, the publication reported.
Last year, the father-of-one was forced to hit back at GBBO criticism levelled by former finalist, Ruby Tandoh.
The 33-year-old, who appeared on the fourth season of the programme, accused it of hiding its ‘true nature’.
“No show does so much to hide its true nature: namely, that it is a competition people desperately want to win. This is the essential hypocrisy of Bake Off, and it remains the most British thing about it,” the cook said in a New Yorker essay.
In response, Hollywood said on The Sporkful podcast: “Yeah, Bake Off is what it is. It’s a very gentle, it’s a very nice programme, but it’s a competition.
“It’s a competition, and if you want to win, you have to do well.”
He added: “You can be nice and do well, or you can be horrible and do well because I don’t care what personality you are. What I care about is what’s on the plate, and so there lies the competition, it’s not the people, it’s actually the bake itself that’s important to me.”