GOTCHA, GUY!
Cyclist catches Madge’s ex texting at wheel
He made his name filming all-action crime capers like Snatch.
But Guy Ritchie really found himself on the wrong side of the law when a ‘vigilante cyclist’ snatched a film of him texting at the wheel of his Range Rover.
Now the movie director, 51, has been banned from driving for six months.
Ritchie, who was married to Madonna for eight years, was filmed by Mike van erp using his iPhone while driving through Hyde Park in central London.
The cyclist – who has filmed and reported hundreds of drivers – handed the clip over to police, sparking the prosecution. Ritchie pleaded guilty, but did not attend Bromley Magistrates’ Court in south-east London.
The Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director, who is descended from royalty, already had nine points on his licence from three speeding offences. He was given another six points for texting, taking the total to 15 and triggering the ban.
In Mr van erp’s footage, shot on his helmet camera, Ritchie can be seen texting while stuck in traffic on November 3 last year. The father-of-five says ‘Hello my friend’ after he realises he is being watched.
Mr van erp replies: ‘I don’t think you should be using your text messages while you are driving.’ Ritchie, whose movies also include Sherlock Holmes, then winds up his window and drives away slowly as the traffic queue moves forward. He admitted to police that he was the driver in the video.
Ritchie admitted using a phone while driving and was ordered to pay a £666 fine and £166 in prosecution costs and court fees. Dutch-born Mr van erp, whose motorcyclist father was killed by a drink-driver when he was 19, said of Ritchie: ‘I am empathetic to him and other disqualified drivers.
I have to look at myself to judge if I am doing the right thing. ‘I feel very strongly about road safety. ‘I first got my helmet camera in 2006 and realised the potential for road safety.
‘London is probably the “camera cyclist” capital of the world. It only takes a few minutes to submit a video.
‘You just fill out a form online and send it in. You do occasionally have to go to court, I have had to do it maybe five to ten times.
Mr Ritchie is the first well-known person I have caught doing it.’ However, he stressed there had been a backlash for his crusade, adding: ‘I have had quite a lot of anonymous death threats through what I do.’
Ritchie and Madonna divorced in 2008 after she cited irreconcilable differences.
He is now married to model Jacqui Ainsley, 38, with whom he has three children.
His spokesman was unavailable for comment last night.