Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh was unusually camera-shy yesterday, after she was convicted of speeding yet again - her fifth recent offence.
Peek-A-Boo: Andoh Hides From Camera (l)
However, the actress dodged a mandatory driving disqualification after convincing magistrates she needs to be able to drive across the country to visit her frail 85 year-old mother.
The 63 year-old appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court, where she successfully fought for her driving licence, claiming she would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ if she lost it.
Andoh, of Lowden Road, Herne Hill pleaded guilty to exceeding the 20mph speed limit while driving her black two-litre Volvo V60 on February 13 along the A2199 South Croxted Road, West Dulwich.
She plays the long-running role of Lady Agatha Danbury in the historical award-winning Netflix drama.
She was fined £640, with £130 costs and was ordered to pay a £256 victim surcharge and was given another three penalty points.
When leaving court Andoh tried to dodge the Square Mile News photographer by ducking behind her mini entourage - ironic for somebody eager to be in front of camera for her £100,00 a-year role.
Bench Chair Joanne Rutledge told her: “You made an ‘exceptional hardship’ argument that revolved entirely around your mother, who lives alone in a town in Shropshire, not far from the Welsh border.
“She has health issues that are numerous, bones and bleeding and other problems and you have to take her up and down to hospital and she has no carer and she relies on you to pick up the pieces.
“We have found the impact on your mother of you losing your licence amounts to ‘exceptional hardship’ and it was borderline.
“You are driving with a lot of points on your licence,” added Mrs Rutledge. “There are twelve now with the addition of today and you will have a long period of driving with points on your licence.
“You cannot make the same ‘exceptional hardship’ grounds for the next three years. Maybe your mum needs to get herself some assistance and you cannot be relied on going forward.”
Prosecutor Charlotte Birch told the court Andoh was driving at 25mph when an automatic speed camera flashed at 3.42pm.
She has four previous convictions for speeding on March 23, 2023; November 21, 2024 and January 31 and May 1, this year.
Andoh became emotional in the witness box when recalling the death of her Ghanaian father in January, this year and fears her mother may go the same way if she cannot drive the four hours to her home.
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| Head Down: Prolific Speeder Andoh (r) |
“He was in hospital and fell out of bed and hit his head at 7.00pm and we were informed at 8.00am the next day and could not get to him in time.”
Residing in isolated Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire means her mother is difficult to care for if public transport is her only option, Andoh told the magistrates.
“It is possible, but there is a lot of waiting around and it is a forty minute drive from the train station to mum’s town.
“My mum is an amazing woman. She was a schoolteacher, my games mistress, but she is physically frail and had cancer in the 1980’s.
“She has osteoporosis, she’s incontinent, her bladder doesn’t work, she has blood clots and damaged kidneys.”
Recalling one recent worrying incident the actress explained: “She sees moss in her gutters and decides to clean it and got out a step-ladder and fell off the step-ladder and cracked a disc in her spine.
“That was a particularly difficult injury. She is on blood thinners and when she cuts it takes months to heal.
“I was able to get up there, but after a week I had to go back to work and had to fly my brother over, who lives in Los Angeles.
“I’ve had the middle of the night call and just packed a toothbrush and got in the car and go. Somebody could ring me and stay until I get there, but there is no support system for her.
“If I was disqualified for a fortnight or a month what happens is mum falls over in that fortnight?
“I suppose this year I feel particularly sensitive because of how dad died and I would hate for mum to be in hospital. I wouldn’t like that.
“I was over the speed limit on these occasions. There is no argument about that.
“It is a four hour drive,” added Andoh. “In those four hours probably someone from next door would sit with mum. If it was ambulance-worthy I wouldn’t go.
“My husband doesn’t drive and I have three children, but they are all London kids and none of them drive.
“She lives in a converted barn and there isn’t space for someone to live in and frankly my mum would hate that.
“This week she has had exceptionally high blood pressure and they have looked to put her on medication that is contrary to the disease in her kidneys.
“When she falls and cuts herself, she bleeds and she is incontinent when she walks distances, about two-hundred yards.
“It makes her anxious if she cannot get hold of me to come up.
“The fact her kidneys don’t function means she swells up. She has a catheter, uses a bag and is living with an open wound that gets regularly infected and bleeds into the bag.”
Andoh also said she needs her licence to drive to her mother’s brother, who has dementia and lives in Cornwall and her mother’s two sisters live far away, in Cardiff and Wimbledon and one has a broken back and the other a broken ankle.
“Emergencies have arisen when I am at work and I had to go and they had to rejig things.
“Mum has a friendship group, but they are inter eighties and nineties. They are a hardy bunch.
“Mum’s answer is that when she is too old to live in the house she will move into supported living with her friends and when they are too old for that the cottage hospital and then opt their clogs.”
Moving to Andoh’s south-east London home was also out of the question, said the star.
“Mum would absolutely hate it. What would she do all day? She would be incredibly lonely as all her friends are up there and she has lived there forty years.”
The Bristol-born star has carved out a career in stage, screen, television and radio.
She won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Lady Agatha Danbury from the Black Reel Awards for Television.
She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Associate Artist and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a teacher at the Royal Academy of Arts (RADA) and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Andoh received an MBE for services to drama despite on live television describing Buckingham Palace as having a “terribly white balcony” on the day of King Charles III’s coronation.
Her movie career includes roles in Adulthood and its sequel Brotherhood, plus Invictus and Wallace & Gromit.
Her numerous television roles include Doctor Who; Death in Paradise; Line of Duty; Broadchurch; New Tricks and Silent Witness, plus numerous other roles.
She recently appeared on stage in Richard II & III, plus Bleak Expectations and Julius Caesar.
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