Paul Hollywood was caught speeding at almost 100mph on the motorway because he was rushing his “unwell” cat to the vet.
The chef, who is a judge on The Great British Bake Off, was accused of tailgating cars on the M25 to “repeatedly bully” them out of the fast lane.
His Land Rover Defender was officially clocked at 96mph, but he is believed to have reached speeds of more than 105mph on the motorway.
When pulled over by police, Hollywood, who has four cats, blamed his behaviour on a desire to get his sick cat to the vet for treatment.
The TV star - who previously admitted he cleans his car every two hours due to his OCD - pleaded guilty at Worthing Magistrates’ Court last week to speeding,
The 60-year-old was sentenced to five penalty points on his licence, a £293 fine, £120 in costs, and a £117 victim surcharge.
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.”
The incident happened at around 3.20pm on January 9 when Hollywood’s car was spotted speeding along the M25, court papers revealed.
Hollywood was tailed by Surrey police officer Alexander McAlpine in an unmarked police car.
McAlpine said he saw the TV star’s vehicle “repeatedly bully other vehicles out of its way, through use of unsafe tailgating”.
“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,” he said.
“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, to try and ‘push’ any traffic that was in front of them out of the lane, even if they were legitimately overtaking traffic travelling slower in lane three.”
Hollywood reached speeds of around 100mph on the M25 despite being in heavy traffic and the road being damp, and after joining the less-busy M26 he was “able to achieve higher speeds more consistently”, according to police.
“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,” McAlpine said.
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”.
The officer caught the incident on his dash camera, then pulled over the chef to challenge him for speeding and “aggressively tailgating other road users”.
“The driver stated that the reason for their urgency and driving behaviour was transporting an unwell cat,” he recalled.
Hollywood, a judge on Bake Off since its inception in 2010, is also a 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”, saying: “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.”
In 2015, he said he is “obsessed” with his Aston Martin and cleans it a number of times every day.
“I wonder if I love it a little too much. You look for little nicks and if I see one my heart misses a beat. It (the nick) is just sitting there winding me up - it’s ruining the car,” he admitted.
“It is OCD. I’m obsessed with my Aston.”
Hollywood had no penalty points on his licence when he was pulled over by the police officer in January, court papers showed.
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.
He 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.
