Dr Christopher Nutting pictured outside Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court, where he admitted drink driving
One of the world’s leading cancer specialists has been banned from the roads after driving his Audi A3 while more than twice the drink-drive limit.
Dr Christopher Nutting had been out for lunch with his family and enjoyed wine with his meal when he was spotted by police swerving on the A3.
The 49-year-old said he was trying to drive to London, but when he was breathalysed results revealed he had 87 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Dr Nutting, from Chichester in West Sussex, is President of British Oncological Association and Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Royal Marsden in Chelsea.
He is also in charge of the Head and Neck Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital and chairman of the National Cancer Research Institute Committee for head and neck cancer.
The leading oncologist has been the principle investigator for a number of key research trials, including for Cancer Research UK.
Dr Nutting, from Chichester in West Sussex, is President of British Oncological Association and Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Royal Marsden in Chelsea
Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court in Hampshire heard Dr Nutting went out for lunch with his family on February 4 this year and had been drinking wine with his meal.
But he realised there would be major travel disruption the following morning which could make him late for an important meeting.
The court heard just after 9pm he decided to drive himself to London that night so he would not miss the appointment.
But he was spotted by police swerving in the road while driving on the A3 in Petersfield almost 20 miles from his home.
The doctor admitted one count of drink-driving.
The judge told him: ‘One has to recognise your position in society as a person who should do the right thing. That wasn’t the right thing.’
Defending, Colin Knott said his client had an ‘unblemished record’ and argued everyone should be allowed one ‘serious error of judgement’.
The doctor has been banned from driving for 18 months, fined £3,000, also ordered to pay £85 costs
Mr Knott told the court: ‘He is a genuinely useful and industrious member of society, ordinarily he does things in the right way.
‘He should have known better, but when the wine is in the wit is out.
‘It was many hours after he stopped drinking [when he got behind the wheel].
‘He had a sense of responsibility and duty, he didn’t want to have problems and he got in the car – he drove.
‘We’re all entitled to make one serious error of judgement in life and he made it the night he got into that car.’
District judge Anthony Callaway banned Nutting from driving for 18 months and fined him £3,000, also ordering him to pay £85 costs.