TV presenter’s drink driving excuse: I had divorce stress
KIRSTY GALLACHER, the television presenter, claimed she was suffering from divorce stress after being caught driving while three times the alcohol limit on a Saturday morning.
The presenter, who works on Sky Sports News and is divorced from Paul Sampson, the ex-rugby union player, was caught by police after witnesses reported her driving erratically.
The 41-year-old’s defence lawyer told a court yesterday that Gallacher had been suffering a “stressful time” amid “difficulties arising from the breakdown of her marriage” when she was stopped on her way to pick up her children.
Gallacher, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, was banned from driving for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work after admitting drink driving. She had taken a minicab home to Virginia Water, Surrey, after a night out with friends. But she was found to be almost three times the legal alcohol limit when she was arrested at about 11am on Saturday Aug 12.
The mother of two was on her way to meet her children when she was seen driving erratically in Eton, Berkshire, Slough magistrates’ court was told.
Officers used CCTV to find her BMW X4 parked on Eton High Street before conducting a breathalyser test, which showed her alcohol level was at 106 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath. The drink drive limit in England and Wales is 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath. Jennifer Dempster, Gallacher’s defence lawyer, said the presenter “very rarely” drank, and had taken a minicab home before going to collect her car the next morning. She said: “This is, of course, the morning after drinking, and it is a topic which is a hot one at present. This is, in many senses, unintentional drink driving.”
Ms Dempster said that Gallacher’s two young children had not been in her car. She added: “What this defendant did was exactly right until 11 o’clock the next morning. She took a cab home and left her car at the pub. She took an Uber to the pub the next day to pick her car up. She took all appropriate steps. This is a young lady, aged 41 now, and this is a stressful time. There are difficulties arising from the breakdown of her marriage.” But District Judge Davinder Lachhar said of the alcohol level: “It is a very high rate. It is almost three times the amount of the limit.”