Sir Benjamin Slade banned for drink driving (From Somerset County Gazette)

Sir Benjamin Slade banned for drink driving

8:00pm Wednesday 8th July 2009

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THE owner of two historic buildings blames advancing years after he was caught drink driving.

Sir Benjamin Slade, 63, owner of Maunsel House, North Newton, and Woodlands Castle, Ruishton, was stopped on the M5 near Bridgwater on April 5.

He has now been banned from driving for a year by Taunton Deane magistrates and fined £350 with £60 costs and £15 victim surcharge after pleading guilty.

Sir Benjamin, who had 53microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath - the limit is 35 – claimed he was “perfectly sober”.

“There was some stuff left over,” he said.

“The trouble is when you get older, it lasts longer in you.

“I’ve been breathalysed ten times in 20 years and never failed – being older, it doesn’t work.

“I was perfectly sober. I’d had my last drink at 4.30pm – I had three large glasses of wine – and was stopped at 8pm.”

Sir Benjamin said the situation was worse because he is on medication for chronic arthritis and haemorrhoids.

“I’m not supposed to drink, but I have a few glasses - it clears the pain for a short period,” he added.

Sir Benjamin has been advertising worldwide for an heir to inherit Maunsel House – he plans to leave it to the person with the closest DNA match to him.

He was also a judge in the ITV series Ladettes to Ladies, in which a group of Australian tearaways attempt to become ‘posh’.

Sir Benjamin said: “They had to cut quite a lot because they got screaming drunk and chased the men round the bushes – I went and hid.”

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