Drink-drive ex-Corrie star hit with road ban
SOAP star Adam Rickitt has been banned for drink driving.
The former Coronation Street actor was caught making a 600-metre journey home to get a takeaway.
Rickitt, 42, had been working late and drinking in a wine bar he runs - but was then called by his Good Morning Britain reporter wife Kate Fawcett to collect the meal she ordered.
Police stopped his Skoda Yeti on August 22 as he collected the food from near his wine, gin and craft beer bar, Dexter and Jones, in Knutsford.
Traffic officers breathalysed him and he was more than twice the alcohol limit, having earlier drunk two single gins and a 65 per cent rum shot at work. Tests later showed he had 80 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The alcohol limit is 35mg. Rickitt, from Knutsford, admitted drinkdriving and was banned for 17 months.
Prosecutor Lucy Bridge said: “A Pc and PCSO become aware of the green Skoda with its headlights not illuminated. He was invited to sit in the police vehicle and was asked if he’s consumed any alcohol and he responded two single gins.”
Victoria Thompson, defending, said Rickitt, who played Nick Tilsley in Corrie and also starred in Hollyoaks, was deeply ashamed and that work had all but dried up for him following his soap exit and the impact of coronavirus on his business.
She said: “He is deeply ashamed to be appearing before the courts and is not someone who’s whatsoever been in trouble. He takes full responsibility for his actions.”
She added: “He knows he was in the wrong and is not somebody who ever thought would be appearing before the courts.
“He owns a bar and had had a difficult day. He’s put most of his savings and spent some time getting it up and running only for Covid to hit and caused a strain but he has benefited from some of the government’s help.”
Miss Thompson said Rickitt had become stressed after staying at work to fix a faulty pump when his wife went home.
She said a customer bought him a drink and he planned to walk home. She said: “His wife then contacted him and said you need to leave this now and that she had ordered a takeaway and ‘you will have dinner.’
“The car had automatic lights that turn on but it had been at the garage and he had never had to use the manual function of the lights and the garage had switched off the lights, so when he set off he hadn’t realised that was switched off.”
She added: “He made a very foolish decision to drive and not walk and it is one he will forever regret because what’s transpired and the position he finds himself in today.”
She said Rickitt suffered from a mobility condition which meant he should not travel on public transport as he has a low immune system.
Rickitt was also fined £230 and ordered to pay £119 in costs.