Man loses licence after being caught drink-driving toy car

A man who was caught drink-driving a Barbie car has been banned for three years. The car in question isn’t the Fiat 500 Barbie edition but a children’s electric car which can reach the heady speeds of 4mph.

Paul Hutton was pulled over by police as he drove the pink toy car, which moves slower than a mobility scooter, near his home in Essex.

Mr Hutton, who has four children said he had been a “complete twit”.

He told reporters after his hearing: “You have to be a contortionist to get in, and then you can’t get out. I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving but I was a twit to say the least. It is designed for three-to-five-year-olds.

“Originally it was a pink Barbie car but I put bigger wheels on it but it’s not fast. I’m not unhappy with my punishment, just a little bit surprised.”

Mr Hutton, who is divorced, and a former RAF aeronautical engineer who now studies electrical engineering at Colchester Institute explained: “I’m in the third year of my electrical engineering course and it was a little project I was doing with my son who is doing a car mechanics course.

“When it was done I couldn’t resist the temptation to take it out.”

Mr Hutton, was found to be twice the drink-drive limit and appearing before magistrates last week, he admitted driving the toy car while drunk.

Because he’d had another drink-drive incident in the past 10 years, he was given a three-year mandatory ban, a 12-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £85 in court costs.

Chairman of the bench Neil Munson said: “This is most unusual. I have never seen the like of it in 15 years on the bench. The vehicle is not even capable of doing the speed of a mobility scooter and could be outrun by a pedestrian.

“Taking this into account, we feel we can impose a sentence of a conditional discharge for a period of 12 months.”

Mr Hutton is hoping he’ll soon get the car back after it was confiscated by police.