Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood was pulled over by police after speeding at nearly 100mph while rushing his sick cat to the vet, a court has heard.
The TV chef, 60, has been accused of tailgating cars at high speeds on the M25 to ‘bully’ them out of the fast lane during his emergency journey.
A Surrey Police officer said that Hollywood’s Land Rover Defender was officially clocked at 96mph, but he is believed to have reached speeds of more than 105mph when he got on to the M26.
After being pulled over, Hollywood reportedly blamed his behaviour on the need to get his unwell cat to the vet for treatment.
At Worthing Magistrates’ Court last week, the 60-year-old pleaded guilty to speeding and was sentenced to five penalty points on his licence, a £293 fine, £120 in costs and a £117 victim surcharge.
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After an intervention from his lawyers at Hickman and Rose, a second charge of driving without due care and attention was dropped by police.
‘Mr Hollywood accepts he was driving too fast,’ wrote Peter Csemiczky, a partner at the leading law firm.
‘He was rushing home to get his unwell cat to the vet. He understands this is no excuse and apologises for his actions. He understands and accepts that he will be punished.’
Court papers show that the incident happened at around 3.20pm on January 9 when Hollywood’s car was spotted speeding along the M25.
Pc Alexander McAlpine, from Surrey Police, trailed Hollywood in an unmarked police car and said he saw his vehicle ‘repeatedly “bully” other vehicles out of its way, through use of unsafe tailgating’.
He said: ‘Whenever there was a vehicle ahead, the driver would close up to a follow distance of less than five metres which was wholly inappropriate for the conditions and speed.
‘Once a vehicle moved out of the way having been tailgated until they did so, the driver would then heavily accelerate and travel well in excess of the limit until they reached the next vehicle ahead on the road, at which point they would repeat the process.’
PC McAlpine also said that Hollywood reached speeds of around 100mph on the M25 despite being in heavy traffic and the road being damp. Then, after he joined the less-busy M26 he was ‘able to achieve higher speeds more consistently’.
He added: ‘They continued their behaviour of closing up to any vehicles ahead in their lane of travel, and then following them at an aggressively short distance, on one occasion roughly a mere two metres whilst travelling at approximately 80mph, until they moved out of the way.’
The officer said he matched Hollywood’s speed, clocking him at a ‘peak’ of around 105mph, with a ‘general road speed remained above 90mph for an extended period of time’.
After catching the incident on his dash camera, the officer then pulled over the chef to challenge him for speeding and ‘aggressively tailgating other road users’.
The officer concluded in his statement: ‘The driver stated that the reason for their urgency and driving behaviour was transporting an unwell cat.’
Hollywood, who has been a judge on Bake Off since it first aired in 2010, is also a keen motoring enthusiast who has competed in professional races for Aston Martin.
In 2022, he confessed on TV that he had been admonished by fellow Bake Off judge Mary Berry for driving too fast.
He called speeding his ‘most unappealing habit’, adding: ‘I probably drive a little bit too quick. It scares a few people. I took Mary in a car once and she was hitting me with her handbag.’
Court papers show Hollywood had no penalty points on his licence when he was pulled over by the police officer in January.
He pleaded guilty in writing to the speeding charge and was convicted and sentenced in a private hearing of the Single Justice Procedure without having to attend court.
Hollywood entered a not guilty plea to the charge of driving without due care and attention, and the allegation was withdrawn by the police force.
Hollywood was sentenced on April 27, in the same week that 374 other motorists around the country were convicted by courts for breaking 70mph speed limits, leading to penalty points and fines of up to £1,000.
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