Driving ban and fine for World Cup winner who could not refuse a drink
Tottenham goalkeeper caught in his Porsche at twice legal limit after being ‘showered with hospitality’
HUGO LLORIS, the World Cup-winning French footballer, has admitted drink-driving while being more than twice the legal limit after he claimed he was showered with drinks by diners at a London restaurant.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper, of East Finchley, north London, had reportedly been out with Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud, his French teammates, at Bagatelle in Mayfair, where a T-bone steak costs £120.
By 2am on Aug 24, Lloris, the Tottenham Hotspur captain, was “completely drunk”, and decided to drive home in his new Porsche Panamera.
Henry Fitch, prosecuting, said police in an unmarked car spotted Lloris’s vehicle driving at 15mph in a 30mph zone. He also ran a red light, veered his car “towards parked vehicles” before correcting himself and when police stopped the vehicle, they discovered vomit and said Lloris had to be helped from the car.
Yesterday, he was fined £50,000 at Westminster magistrates’ court and banned from driving for 20 months after pleading guilty to drink driving.
His north London club is also expected to fine him around £300,000 – two weeks’ wages – for breaching the code of conduct at Tottenham, according to reports.
There was an unnamed passenger in the car with the World Cup winner at the time and David Sonn, defending, said the player and his friends “were showered with hospitality, given the circumstances, not just by the restaurant but by others there, who were sending drinks to them”.
He added: “By 2am he was completely drunk. At that moment he should have left the vehicle where it was. But, as Mr Lloris pointed out to me, it is when you’re drunk you’re likely to make mistakes – that was to drive home.”
Describing to the court his client’s fall from grace after being arrested, Mr Sonn added: “On July 15 he was arguably the proudest man on the planet (having captained France to the World Cup victory). Just 40 days later, he was arrested.
“He experienced the indignity of being handcuffed and put in a police station overnight. The spectacular fall from grace is not lost on Mr Lloris.”
The France international, who led his team to World Cup glory in Russia, was driving along Gloucester Place, Marylebone, when he was pulled over.
The court heard Lloris provided a sample containing 80 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit in England and Wales is 35 micrograms.
Lloris was flanked by two members of his entourage as he made his way from his vehicle into the court yester- day morning, confronted by dozens of photographers and video journalists.
Last month, his club dealt with the matter internally, saying it would be taken “extremely seriously”, and hours after he was released from police custody, Lloris apologised in a public statement.
He said: “I wish to apologise wholeheartedly to my family, the club, my team-mates, the manager and all of the supporters. Drink-driving is completely unacceptable, I take full responsibility for my actions and it is not the example I wish to set.”