Ellen Whitaker gets driving ban after being over the limit
Showjumper Ellen Whitaker has been banned from driving for 18months for being caught at more than twice the legal alcohol limit.
Police confirmed to H&H she was stopped at around 2am on Monday 19 September in a Range Rover.
The 25-year-old rider had been at a charity ball in Cheshire and was returning home when she was pulled over on the Warrington Road in Knutsford.
Ellen, who is engaged to Hollywood actor and star of The Tudors Henry Cavill, was arrested and found to be more than double the legal limit. Her reading was 77mg of alcohol, the limit is 35mg.
Ellen appeared before Macclesfield Magistrates on 12 October and pleaded guilty of drink driving. She has been banned for 18 months, fined £150 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £15 victim surcharge.
A spokeswoman said Ellen was “very sorry” and she would “never condone drink-driving.”
“She had been at a charity ball and hadn’t had a chance to eat before. She had no idea she was over the legal limit when she got into the car,” she said.
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“Having driven less than a mile, Ellen realised she might be over the legal limit and turned round to return to her friend’s house. It was on the way back that the police stopped her.”
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.