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| Caught On Camera: Art Photography Dealer Jefferies |
Mayfair art gallery-owner Tim Jefferies, 63, was caught on camera speeding in a 20mph zone while behind the wheel of his silver 6.75 litre Bentley Continental.
Known as a smooth talker, who sells valuable photographs
for up to £500,000 to wealthy customers, he failed to talk his way out of a six-month disqualification.
Wearing a smart blue jacket, jeans and a mauve shirt he told Lavender Hill Magistrates he needed to keep his licence for the school run; to continue operating his gallery and visiting his 83 year-old mother at her Sussex retirement village.
He married Prince Andrew’s ex Koo when he was aged twenty-one years-old and she was twenty-eight, but the marriage barely lasted a year.
Jefferies, who lives in £4.2m West House, Addison Crescent, Kensington reportedly went onto date pop star Kylie Minogue, and models Claudia Schiffer, Sophie Dahl and Elle ‘The Body’ Macpherson.
He pleaded guilty to speeding at 25mph on the A4 Cromwell Road on February 22 in the twenty-four year-old luxury vehicle, which brings three penalty points.
With nine points already on his licence for speeding on May 8, 2022 and using his mobile phone while driving on July 20, 2022 that brought him to twelve points - triggering an automatic six-month ban.
He told the court his licence was vital to enable him to drive his 16 year-old daughter and 13 year-old son to their school in Barnes, a responsibility he shares with their Swedish model mother Malin Johansson, 48.
Asking not to be disqualified under exceptional hardship grounds Jefferies told the court: “They live with their mum and they come to me every other weekend and once during the week.
“We share the responsibility of taking them to school. She has a business making cashmere jumpers, cashmere clothing and falls back on me and vice versa, it is an important thing.
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| Court Out: Jefferies Leaves Lavender Hill Magistrates' |
“The school is in Barnes and Hammersmith Bridge is closed so that makes it forty-five minutes each way, using Chiswick Bridge.
“As the evenings are drawing in I am concerned for the kids walking home in the dark for thirty-five minutes.
“Some have had their phones taken from them by other kids.
“Their mother’s work commitments are fluid and that is why we split it between the two of us. If I did not drive it would impact her business.
“My daughter is very involved in her school’s drama and that is going to keep her occupied for several months, staying at school until 6.00pm.
“They are at an age, thirteen and sixteen and I do not have that bond of living with them.
“The driving, taking them back and forth and driving them around is time I cherish and that time, if it were taken away, I would not want to think about.
“To not see them as frequently for six months if I couldn’t drive is a long time in kiddie years.”
His Hamiltons Gallery business would also be hit if he was disqualified, claimed Jefferies, explaining he personally takes his valuable photographs to Islington framers approximately once a week or three times a month.
“My Mayfair gallery specialises in exhibiting and the sale of late twentieth century photographs and some paintings to, but the photography is what I am best known for.
“I take the photos for framing to Islington. I know how they should look and none of my seven employees are qualified to do that.
“They can be extremely valuable, five to ten thousand pounds up to half a million pounds.
“I also need to collect and deliver to clients in and around London and the countryside and they expect to see me, I’m front of house, I make the sales and I am at the beginning and end of the transaction.
“I do not have an insurance policy that allows me to transport the art by taxi and certainly not by bus or the tube.
“There is no doubt in my mind the business would be affected. It is a tough time to be an art dealer or in any business at the moment and losing my licence would definitely have some impact on my business.
“I am looking at ways to cut corners and costs. Maybe I would have to let somebody go and it concerns me not being able to conduct the business as I always have.”
His licence is vital to continue visiting his octogenarian mother Hilary, who depends on his visits for her mental health and spirits, said Jefferies.
“My mother had a catastrophic breakdown and was in a mental ward for six months,” he told the magistrates.
“She is in a facility with other elderly people and lives there now and I see her twice a month. I drive there.
“She refers to it like a prison, but there are no bars on the windows and she likes it if I take her out to lunch or for a coffee.”
Both Hilary and Malin wrote letters to the court, with his mother saying it would cause her “upset, anxiety and pain,” not to see her son.
“I see how much she responds to and enjoys my visits and I also take my kids once a month and that brings great joy to her.
“She says I am her only contact with the outside world.
“I am not a medical professional, but I see the difference my visits make to her demeanour and she would be very depressed for sure if I did not visit.
“It is really in the middle of nowhere. It is quite isolated,” added Jefferies, saying his sister visits every six weeks from her Devon home.
Earlier prosecutor Susan Carnegie told the court it was 4.12pm when Jefferies was caught on a speed camera driving at 25mph in a 20mph zone.
His lawyer Ben Langley said: “We ask for full credit for the guilty plea. You have heard there were nine points on the licence at the time and it is a clean licence now.
“Mr Jefferies had to loan away his BMW for six weeks and he only uses this car very occasionally and that is maybe why he edged over the limit.
“He has never been to court before and has had a licence for forty-five years and asks you not to disqualify him today.”
Bench Chairman David Simms announced: “We have carefully considered everything that was said and we are not persuaded on the balance of probabilities that a disqualification would cause exceptional hardship.
“As for your business there are alternatives to get to the framers and clients and for your children there is public transport and taxis.
“For visiting your mother there are alternative means of transport and you could co-ordinate visits with your sister and there are visiting facilities on the site.”
Jefferies was fined £317, with £130 costs and ordered to pay a £127 victim surcharge and disqualified for six months.
“You must not attempt to drive or actually drive while you are disqualified,” Mr Simms told Jefferies. “Driving while disqualified is a very serious offence.”
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