Ant McPartlin fined £86k and banned from driving
Ant McPartlin has been fined £86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after pleading guilty to being twice the legal drink drive limit.
The Saturday Night Takeaway presenter, and one half of ITV's stalwart presenting duo Ant & Dec, appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court today (16 April) following a collision with two other vehicles on March 18.
The star was more than twice over the drink drive limit, the court heard. The charge states that he had 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath (via BBC News).
Meanwhile, a driver of one of the other cars said that they 'could have died as a result of Mr McPartlin's reckless driving' during their witness statement.
Prosecutor Katie Sinnett-Jones told the court that the incident last month saw the TV host driving around a sharp bend before losing control, hitting another Mini Cooper, before driving 'straight into the front of an oncoming car'.
Ant said that he was 'ashamed and mortified' and 'accepts full responsibility', adding that he felt he'd let himself 'and so many others down'.
Speaking outside the court following his conviction, Ant said: 'I just want to say I'm truly sorry for what happened, higher standards are expected of me, I expect them of myself.
'I let myself down, I let a lot of people down, for that I'm truly sorry. I'd like to apologise to everyone involved in the crash, I'm just thankful that no one was seriously hurt.'
The 42-year-old presenter arrived at court during the early afternoon on Monday (April 16) to a swarm of paparazzi.
He was charged after an alleged collision with two other cars while driving his Mini in Richmond, London. The hearing was initially planned to take place on April 4, but was adjourned to this later date.
Ant has since stepped away from his presenting commitments on Saturday Night Takeaway and Britain's Got Talent. In a previous statement from Ant & Dec, they said: 'Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments.'
Ant's long-term presenting partner Declan Donnelly was forced to present the pair's ITV show Saturday Night Takeaway alone following Ant's arrest.
Taking to Twitter to acknowledge his friend's absence, Dec wrote: 'Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead.
'We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.
'Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.'
During the final episode of the series, Dec called for a round of applause to show Ant support while he took time away from filming back home.
