Lady Tatiana Mountbatten was banned from driving for six months yesterday after she was caught speeding in her new Porsche three times in ten days.
The 29 year-old equestrian businesswoman, a cousin of the Queen, will now be forced to “beg, steal or borrow” to get from her multi-million pound Knightsbridge flat to her stables, a court heard.
Lady Tatiana, of Lennox Gardens, Knightsbridge admitted breaking the 60 mph speed limit in her £50,000 2018 grey 3-litre Porsche Macan diesel on the same stretch of the M4.
Lavender Hill Magistrates Court heard she was clocked at 70mph on March 1; 71mph on March 6 and 70mph on March 10 between Heston services and Windmill Lane.
She says she did not realise the motorway limit had been reduced from 70mph to 60mph for essential works.
Lady Tatiana already had nine penalty points on her driving licence and after receiving three more for each speeding offence it took her over the disqualification threshold of twelve points.
She was also fined £150 for each speeding offence, with £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge and magistrate Bukky Okunade told her: “We have heard what has been said on your behalf and given you credit for pleading guilty in the first instance.
“They are serious matters of speeding, a multiple matter, three. Because of your totting you have to be disqualified for six months.
“If you drive while disqualified it is a serious offence and you can be sent into custody and disqualified again.”
Her father is peer and businessman George Mountbatten, the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven and cousin of the Queen and he is in the line of succession to the throne
Lady Tatiana herself is a descendent of monarchs including Queen Victoria and Nicholas I of Russia and was educated at elite £12,000-a year Millfield private school in Street, Somerset.
As the only holder of a HGV licence within her business the court heard the ban will cause great inconvenience in transporting horses via a horse box.
Her lawyer Mark Haslam told the court “she was blissfully unaware of her offending,” not realising the motorway limit had been reduced from 70mph to 60mph.
“The defendant is a self-employed personal horse trainer and I ask the court to deal with her, whatever her other connections may or may not be.
“She works very hard and very long hours as a horse trainer. It is not a nine to five occupation.”
Lady Tatiana also competes and performs in the dressage discipline.
“The horses are outside London and it is a one hour drive and she is going to have to make other arrangements,” added the lawyer.
“She is going to have to beg, steal and borrow for lifts.”
The trip would take three-and-a-half hours via public transport.
“She is the only one in the organisation with a HGV licence. You will appreciate a HGV licence is essential for anyone working in the equestrian world,” said Mr Haslam.
“Her greatest worry is that those who wok for her may not keep their jobs if she cannot continue running her stables as she would like to.
“She is the author of her own misfortune and there is a knock-on as far as her employees are concerned.
“She has recently taken up training as a therapist. That is something she will have to put aside.
“For some time she has on a voluntary basis for the disabled, a charity. She has given up her own time to help children, handicapped and others with riding and that brings a great joy to their lives.
“She will do her very best to continue, but will have to concentrate on her business.
“It is going to have a significant effect so the defendant will learn a salutary lesson and she has found the process of dealing with this quite stressful.
“It has been a long and salutary journey for her and today is the end of the journey.”
Her mother is Sarah Georgina Walker, the Marchioness of Milford Haven and Lady Tatiana is an ambassador for luxury fashion retailer Crofton & Hall.
Mr Haslam also told the court: “There is going to be significant hardship both to her and third parties, but in the overall picture I’ve advised her, even though there is that hardship, it doesn’t in my professional opinion about to exceptional hardship.
“I don’t want to use the court’s time for something that is worthless.
“The disqualification is or itself a considerable punishment for this defendant and for others.”
Regarding the speeding offences themselves the lawyer added: “They are not at the top end of the scale, but the lower end of the scale.”
He conceded the totting disqualification is there “to teach a lesson to those who behave in this way.”
“In each case the defendant indicated a plea of guilty at the first opportunity.
“I don’t want this court to sentence this person for driving around ignoring the speed limit. They were in a short pace of time in an identical location.
“It is, as you appreciate, a motorway. There had been a reduction from 70mph to 60mph for repairs to the motorway and I accept it is her responsibility to take this on board.
“She has a speed limiter on her vehicle and kept it at 70mph.”
No comments:
Post a Comment