Speeding Lord Banned For Loo Dash

Conservative peer Lord Trefgarne received a four-month road ban today for speeding yet again today after magistrates rejected his claim he was caught short and was rushing to the House of Lords toilets.

David Garro Trefgarne, 74, 2nd Baron Trefgarne, was caught on camera speeding at 36mph along Chelsea Embankment at 1.57pm on October 20, last year in his grey 2.4 litre Suzuki car as he dashed to a 2.30pm sitting of the House.

Rt. Hon. The Lord Trefgarne, of Kettlewell Close, Horsell, Woking, Surrey pleaded guilty to the offence at Wimbledon Magistrates Court and was also fined £1500, with £100 costs and ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge.

The magistrates also dismissed his claim public transport would not be "practical" for a man of his age and responsibilities.

It was Lord Trefgarne's fifth speeding offence in three-and-a-half years and nine points will remain on his licence.

He produced evidence from a consultant urologist, proving he has a medical condition which leaves him prone to needing the toilet at short notice.

"The symptoms are that I have occasional, urgent need to urinate," said the peer, who held ministerial posts in Margaret Thatcher's Tory government. "It is totally unpredictable and urgent when it does happen.

"I was going to a sitting of the House of Lords, which I do attend on a very regular basis. I'm a conservative member of the House, we don't have a majority and the whips are very keen on attendance.

"Whipping in the House of Lords is much more vigorous than it use'd to be.

"I was getting the symptoms crossing Battersea Bridge, most serious and urgent symptoms and I am not aware of any public convenience between where I was and the House.

"I was anxious to get to the House of Lords as quickly as possible so I could relieve myself."

His lawyer Mr. Quentin Hunt told the magistrates: "Had an accident happened as a result of his condition he would not have been able to fulfil his functions in the House of Lords that day.

"Lord Trefgarne does have a role to play, sitting all hours and maybe it is not practical for a man of his age to get on public transport every day to conduct his duties."

Bench chairwoman Isobel Vass ruled: "Lord Trefgarne had other possible alternatives open to him such as a pub or a restaurant.

"We do not accept that his presence at the House of Lords was so essential his failure to attend would result in it's functions not being carried out."

She told the peer: "There are still nine points on your licence and when you resume driving you will have to do so with extreme care."

Lord Trefgarne was educated at the all-boys Haileybury and Imperial Service College public school and succeeded his father, the 1st Baron Trefgarne on his nineteenth birthday, taking his seat in the House of Lords on his 21st birthday in 1962.

He was a Government Whip from 1979 to 1981 and for the rest of the decade held posts at the Department of Trade; Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Department of Health and Social Security and the Ministry of Defence.

He was then promoted to Minister of State for Defence Support, then Defence Procurement and was finally a Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry.

A member of the Privy Council, Lord Trefgarne was one of ninety hereditary peers elected to remain after the 1999 House of Lords Act.