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Mitsuhide Akechi
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Glamour Model Fined For Horsebox Driving Rap
8:10pm Tuesday September 28, 2010
Adam Arnold
Katie Price has been found guilty of not being in proper control of a vehicle after veering into another lane while driving a luxury pink horsebox.
Katie Price arrives at Mid Sussex Magistrates Court
The glamour model was spotted by police on a mobile phone on the A23 at Bolney, West Sussex. Her actions caused two other vehicles to move away as her 7.5 tonne vehicle drifted into their lane, magistrates heard. Price was among eight people, including her cagefighter husband Alex Reid, travelling to Euro Disney in the vehicle, which she had only driven twice before.
Prosecutors said she was seen on the phone for two to three seconds by two officers after they drove alongside her in a patrol vehicle following the "careless" manoeuvre into the opposite lane. In her evidence to the court, Price denied using her phone, insisting she had no reason to because the horsebox was equipped with hands-free bluetooth equipment.
Price, who already had seven points on her licence, was found guilty of not being in proper control of a vehicle. She was fined £1,000, and ordered to pay a £15 surcharge and costs of £650 at Mid Sussex Magistrates' Court. She also had three points added to her licence.
Price was joined by her husband Alex Reid
PC Phill Mann told the court he saw Price making a texting motion on an iPhone-type handset before pulling her over on February 19. She told the officer she had been spraying perfume. The 32-year-old, dressed in a fur-trimmed coat and black leggings, sat on a bench behind her lawyer, Nick Freeman, nicknamed Mr Loophole, as the evidence was heard.
The court was shown footage captured by police showing Price veering slightly across the carriageway while at the wheel of the horsebox. Describing her driving as "careless", PC Mann said: "I believe she said that she wasn't using her mobile and that she was using perfume.
Price arrives back in court after a lunch break
"She leaned back into the back of the cab and pulled a large bottle of perfume out of a large zip bag. "I said that wasn't the item I had seen. She got her phone out of the same bag and showed me that and said, 'Was it that?'. "I couldn't recall whether that was the same one I had seen. It had coloured gemstones on it. That's not what I had seen in her hand."
During cross-examination, Mr Freeman said PC Mann's assertion that the horsebox had taken up 50% of lane two was a "gross exaggeration and you are mistaken in that fact." Mr Freeman suggested to the officer that the drifting was typical among drivers and happened "quite regularly" on the road. Price declined to comment after the case. Mr Freeman said an appeal would be lodged against both conviction and sentence.
