Building tycoon drunk drove his car back to his £1.5m home

Managing director Robert Deane, 63, from Cheshire, had planned to make a transatlantic call to his wife in California at midnight

A building tycoon was caught drink-driving his £50,000 Porsche back to his £1.5million home, after deciding to ‘risk it’ rather than wait an hour for a taxi following a lakeside wedding reception.  

Managing director Robert Deane, 63, from Cheshire, had planned to make a transatlantic call to his wife in California at midnight.

But whilst at the wedding venue on a millionaire row in Mere, he realised a taxi due to take him back to his home in Bowdon near Altrincham had been an booked an hour later than he had hoped.

And after failing to get another cab, he jumped in his £50,000 Cayenne at 11.30pm and made the 22 minute journey himself so he could make the call as arranged to his wife who had been visiting her terminally ill mother. 

Shortly afterwards he was spotted weaving around a dual carriageway by an off duty policewoman who had just finished her shift.

She alerted on duty colleagues and trailed him back to his £1.5m house when Deane stopped his car and nearly reversed into her vehicle when she pulled up behind him.

Tests showed Deane – who runs Wetherby Building Systems based in Golborne, near Wigan was more than twice the limit. The time in California would have been 4pm at the time of his arrest.

At Manchester magistrates court Deane, whose firm is worth an estimated £9m and featured in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 in 2013, admitted drink driving and was banned from the roads for two years and was ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work.

Prosecutor Steve Woodman said: ‘On Saturday, October 7 this year, at around 11.30pm a Police officer just finished her shift and was off duty.

‘She was driving home down the A556 dual carriageway heading towards Altrincham. She noticed a vehicle in front which was veering from one lane to lane two. This caused her some concern.

‘She decided to follow that vehicle. She followed him towards Altrincham, she could see him swerving in the road. She was on the phone to her on duty colleagues during the entire time.

‘She saw him drive onto the wrong side of the road and almost collide with a parked car. He managed to stop himself and continue driving.

‘He arrived near his home and stopped in the middle of the road. He then reversed towards her to which she sounded her horn to make him away of her being there, and he stopped.

‘She got out of the car and approached his car. She told him to remain in the vehicle and she removed his keys from the ignition. She noticed he smelt of drink.

‘She introduced herself and asked him what he was doing. He told her that he had been at a wedding in Mere. He explained to her that he was supposed to be getting a taxi back with neighbours, but they had booked the taxi an hour later than when he was planning to leave.

‘He couldn’t get a taxi for himself so he thought he should just risk it.’

Tests showed Deane had 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg

Tests showed Deane had 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg

Tests showed Deane had 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg

Tests showed Deane had 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

His lawyer, Brian Koffman, said in mitigation: ‘He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and cooperated fully with officers at the scene.

‘He is genuinely remorseful. He completely understands the consequences to his actions, though he admits at the time he wasn’t aware. He also admits he had no excuse to be driving. There was a reading of 91mg, which is relatively high.

‘At the time of the offence he was on his way home to phone his wife. She is a US citizen and had travelled to California to be with her mother who was dying. She was very distressed about it.

‘They had been invited to a wedding, but he hadn’t intended to go. His wife had insisted that he should go. He never intended to drive back. He had driven to the venue but planned to get a taxi home with friends and pick his car up the next day.

‘Unfortunately his neighbours had booked a taxi for 12:30pm when he was planning on leaving an hour earlier so he could call his wife. He then tried to get a taxi himself but unfortunately couldn’t get one.

‘He then decided to take a risk and drive home, which he accepts he should not have done. He has never done anything like this before. He doesn’t have any alcohol or drug problems.

‘He is the managing director of Wetherby’s, who have a number of offices round the country, from a Glasgow to Bridgend.

‘There are 67 people employed at this company and he feels responsible for them. If he becomes disqualified this is going to affect his ability to travel round the country and do his job effectively. Their jobs will then be affected as well as the company’s annual turnover.

‘We have looked into chauffeur companies who would be willing to drive him around to his many meetings, but none are particularly reliable.

He works incredibly hard and would hate for his employees to suffer for the foolish mistake he made.

‘This was very much an impulsive decision.’

Passing sentence JP Judith Nuttall told Deane: ‘Whilst this is a serious offence, and there could have been a serious accident, luckily there wasn’t. We have heard your mitigation and accept this is something that will not happen again in the future.’

Deane was also sentenced to a 12 months community order, was offered a drinking driving awareness course and was ordered to pay £170 court costs. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk