Superyacht insurance director cruises way to drink-driving ban

A SUPERYACHT insurance director has been banned from the road after being caught drink driving.

Sebastian Wooderson was driving his Suzuki Jimny in the late hours of Jan 17 this year when he was stopped, prosecutors said.

The 41-year-old – a former pupil at the exclusive Marlborough College public school, which counts the Princess of Wales, Samantha Cameron and Jack Whitehall among its alumni – had failed to provide a specimen of blood for analysis following the incident in Maidenhead, Berkshire, which he admitted, a court heard.

Wooderson, who earns £1,600 a week, also admitted driving while unfit through drink. He appeared at Reading magistrates court for sentencing last week.

He is understood to have been a contemporary of the young Diana Spencer when attending Marlborough College.

Wooderson currently sits alongside Princess Eugenie and James Middleton, the brother of the Princess of Wales, on the committee of the The Malburnian Club Charitable Trust, which is set up to foster links between Old Marlburians.

He is also the divisional director for superyacht operations at Gallagher Speciality, a global wholesale and retail insurance broker.

Defending Wooderson, Ed Stott said there was a “very short” issue in relation to his driving during the incident.

Wooderson had obtained a Guiness World Record for the most amount of people tied together who ran the London marathon, raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Mr Stott said he was “someone who made a very bad mistake, who has otherwise led an exemplary life of positive good character”.

He urged magistrates not to ban Wooderson from driving pointing out he lives in “the sticks”.

Wooderson lives in a £1.2million Grade II listed building in Rookery Lane, Broughton, Hants.

Lead magistrate Shelagh Finch, sentencing, told Wooderson he would be banned from driving for 12 months and would have to pay a fine of £1,600 and a victim surcharge of £640.

She said: “This court takes a very dim view of drink driving. I know this will impact your family considerably.”

The magistrates offered Wooderson a chance to reduce his period of disqualification by three months if he took a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

Wooderson told the court: “I would like that opportunity.”