Chris Tarrant banned for drink driving.

Chris Tarrant the popular radio and TV presenter has been banned for drink driving when he was found to be over the limit after he was reported to police by a fellow drinker.

Reading Magistrates heard that Mr Tarrant had been served with four brandy and ports at the Bladebone Inn in Bocklebury, Berkshire before driving home.

The prosecutor Ms Hasrat Ali told the hearing that drinkers and staff at the pub were concerned that Mr Tarrant had decided to drive home and that he had stumbled near the bar area.

It seems that after a discussion in the pub a member of the public phoned the police who miraculously arrived at Mr Tarrants house in Osgoods Gully, Bucklebury some thirteen minutes later.

Mr Tarrant claimed he had drunk three glasses of wine just prior to the police arriving but later amended this to a large glass of brandy and a glass of wine. He was found to have 50 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The 71 year old said at the hearing that he honestly didn't think he was over the limit when he drove the short distance to his home but admitted drink driving.

Mr Tarrants council said that not all the drinks purchased in the pub were consumed by his client, adding that Mr Tarrant had a knee condition that explained the stumble.

The District Judge Shomon Khan said that despite the relatively low reading there was nothing which would reduce the seriousness of the offence. Mr Tarrant was banned from driving for a year and fined £6000.

As with so many stories that I hear on the news I am always left wondering what the true story is and when hearing one like this, realise how extremely lucky I am to have a wife who rarely drinks and is always able to drive me home should it be necessary.

Having checked on Google maps where Mr Tarrant's house is in relation to the pub it seems it is only one and a half miles away down a virtually straight road and one assumes that most of the locals and staff would have known this.

As for his tripping in the pub, I saw one of his very popular railway journeys on the television where he discussed having a stroke in 2014 and the fact that it had taken some time to regain movement and his walking was still compromised to some degree.

Having spent many a happy year drinking in quite a few different hostelries I have never come across a pub where the other regulars would dob a fellow drinker in to the police, although I realise things are changing in this regard.

I am also wondering how the police managed to get to Mr Tarrant's house with such speed when the nearest large town, where one assumes the nearest police station was based was Reading some ten and a half miles away. The police car must have been virtually passing the pub to have got the call and been at Mr Tarran's house in thirteen minutes, very fortuitous.

What, one wonders was the mindset of the person who dobbed him in to the police, presumably someone who never has a drink or gets anywhere near the drink drive limit, or someone with some sort of grudge against the successful presenter, I have no idea.

I know I have been in pubs where locals who are sober offer to drive others who may be over the limit home on the basis that there will be an occasion when the favour will be returned, especially in small village communities where everyone is local.

I have always assumed that Chris Tarrant is a fairly popular person but this would suggest otherwise, at least with one person in his local pub who made the call to the police.

Obviously we will never know the truth of this matter unless Mr Tarrant should read this and gets in touch with the full story, should he do so I will update you, dear reader at the first available opportunity.