Dominic Chappell has been disqualified from driving for six months after an unsuccessful attempt by the former owner of BHS to argue he needed the use of his car to help sort out the affairs of the stricken retailer.
Chappell was fined £665 and given six points on his licence for driving his green Range Rover at an average speed of almost 64mph in Andover, Hampshire, on 6 April. The speed limit on the road was 40mph.
The former racing car driver pleaded guilty to the offence at Aldershot magistrates court. He had 10 points on his licence for speeding offences in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Chappell, 49, told the court it would be a stretch for him to employ a chauffeur or take taxis and that he was the subject of abuse and “strong language” from other passengers when he took the train.
He said he spent four days a week attending meetings about the collapse of BHS, which went bust in April after little more than a year in Chappell’s ownership. He leaves home at 5.30am and returns at 9.30pm, he said.
The court heard Chappell’s manor house in the village of Winterborne Clenston in Dorset is two miles from a bus stop and about 20 miles from the nearest train station. Chappell’s wife drives 100 miles a day taking his young son to a private school, where his daughter is a weekly boarder, he said.
Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions bought BHS from Sir Philip Green in March 2015. The company entered administration 13 months later, but Retail Acquisitions banked at least £17m. Chappell, a former bankrupt, had no retail experience when he bought the ailing chain from Green for £1.
The last of BHS’s 164 stores are scheduled to close before the end of month. The department store chain’s failure caused the loss of 11,000 jobs and left a £571m pension deficit that Green has promised to resolve.
Chappell’s barrister Michael Levy asked the court for “one last chance” for his client and for the magistrate to take into account Chappell’s isolation and the commitments in meeting the Pension Regulator and dealing with parliamentary inquiries. He argued Chappell would suffer exceptional hardship if he lost his licence.
“It may be there is a genuine public interest in this defendant helping these people as much as he possibly can, to the full and maximum. Clearly if he is not able to do that the whole process is going to be more difficult and drawn out and take longer.”
Magistrate Jenny Gove said Chappell’s speed was “really very excessive” and the withdrawal of his licence would not cause him exceptional hardship. She ordered him to pay £150 in costs.
Gove said: “We don’t find exceptional hardship - it has to relate to other people who are innocent. You are the one who has to be punished.”
When police pulled Chappell over, he said: “I’ve been driving since I was 18 and have never had an accident. I drive an average of 35,000 miles a year and I used to be a race car driver.”
Speaking after the hearing, Chappell said: “I was speeding and shouldn’t have been, and that’s what happened. I am sorry for that.”
He said he would “possibly” use public transport to take 20,000 documents in three boxes to meetings about BHS. Asked about BHS workers, he replied: “I feel very sorry for them. British Home Stores has been a very difficult turnaround for us and I do regret that situation.”
•This article was amended on 23 August 2016 to make clear that Dominic Chappell claimed he needed his driving licence to help in his continued dealings with the Pension Regulator and MPs.
