The Lotus CEO Was Caught At 102mph... But Escaped Penalty Points
The CEO of Lotus Cars has one hell of a good lawyer. Jean-Marc Gales, the boss of the British sports car maker, was caught driving at 102mph in a 70mph zone… but escaped without any penalty points.
The Luxembourg-born velocity enthusiast already had eight points on his licence when he was caught at three-figure speeds on the A11 near the firm’s Norfolk factory. Apparently, he was test-driving a new model. The recently-unveiled Evora GT410 Sport, perhaps?
Normally people in his circumstances would be banned for accruing over 12 points after the customary six had been added to his tally. His argument for getting out of trouble relatively unscathed was bizarre, but it worked. Mr Gales’ lawyer explained that the executive likes to test-drive customers’ brand new cars for himself to make sure they meet his standards, and that a further four-point hit would slap an automatic, lengthy ban on him, preventing him from ‘doing his job.’
As tenuous excuses go, it’s pretty superb. The magistrates agreed with the lawyer’s suggestion to impose a 30-day ban instead of more points. Anyway, in fairness, he probably has plenty of experience and expertise piloting Lotuses (Loti? Lotum? Lotea?) at high speed, on track and otherwise.
Mr Gales was caught at 96mph on the same stretch of road in 2014, earning him five penalty points and a near-£400 fine. Sentencing guidelines, which his lawyer called ‘handrails not handcuffs,’ suggest a sentence of six points or a ban of between seven and 56 days.
As things stand, the Lotus boss will be back behind the wheel before the end of February, enjoying the final sign-off drive of almost every car that leaves the factory.
Source: The Telegraph
Comments
I bet his boot was absolutely full of jammy dodgers…ill see myself out. :-P
And what is that
The lawyer be like:
Better call Saul=)
is that a microagression?
“Do you have any idea how fast you were going?”
“Yes, but I can’t go to jail, I was just test driving a customer’s car. Look, I own the company that makes this car!”
“Yeah, yeah, buddy tell that to the judge in court.”
Judge: okay then,like your cars,you want some free licence points for a lotus?
Saves boss from a speeding ticket with beautiful speech:
Bribes be like, hey you, yeah you. want a free lotus special edition?
Lotos.
“Oh boy, I drive too quickly on public roads, and I got arrested for doing that, it’s NOT FAIR LET ME GET MY LAWYER”
lawyer comes
“Yes, what do you want?”
“I got arrested for driving 30 mph over the limit”
“Okay, so?”
“IT’S NOT FAIR, I MEAN IT’S MY RIGHT”
“Sorry, sir, but I’m pretty sure you’re not above the law”
“I CAN DO WHAT I WANT IT’S MY RIGHT”
“Sir? Were you driving an emergency vehicle?”
“No but-“
“In case you were, did you have an emergency in your emergency vehicle?”
“No but I was not-“
“Are you a firefighter, a policeman or a paramedic?”
“But no, I said-“
gets a bottle out because water hungry
“So pardon me, but if I understand well, you were not having an emergency in your emergency vehicle; you were not driving an emergency vehicle, and you are not a policeman, a firefighter or a paramedic…
sip sip
…am I right?”
“Yes, but-“
“So if you did not have an emergency in your emergency vehicle, did not drive an emergency vehicle, and were not a firefighter, a paramedic or a policeman, you therefore did not hold the right to drive 30 mph over the speed limit, and have been rightly arrested”
“BUT I DO WHAT I WANT DAMNIT IT’S MY JOB I AM THE BOSS OF THIS COMPANY”
“Were the road you drove on a private road?”
“No, but-“
“Therefore I think I will be correct if I say you were driving on public roads, am I right?”
“Yeah but-“
“Therefore you had no right to do what you did, no matter which company you are the boss of.”
“BUT I… I WAS TEST-DRIVING THE CAR TO SEE IF IT WAS OKAY, IT’S MY JOB”
“That’s perfectly right, you had a job to do. But I think you must know what’s a racing track, especially if you’re the boss of a sports car company?”
“Yeah my company won multiple GPs and F1 World Champ-“
“So you could very well have tested that car on a track, right? That’s the purpose of the track: driving fast on it”
“I WANTED TO DO THAT ON THE ROAD”
“And why exactly?”
“TO TEST THE GODDAMN CAR”
“Which could have been done on a track.”
“BUT-“
“There’s nothing else to add, you had no right to do that and it’s perfectly justified that-“
“I HAVE MONEY FOR YOU IF YOU DEFEND ME”
“…money?”
“YES A LOT OF MONEY FOR YOU IF YOU HELP ME”
“Okay, so let me try to convince the judge that you were not in the wrong and were found to have your rights infridged”
gets to court
tells that the boss was infridged in his right to do his job to drive cars fast, on a public road above the speed limit
wins case
Seems accurate to me.
That was some effort there 😂😂
You want an award, mate?
Damn,that’s probably accurate you know 😐
This is what happens when your rich.
*you’re
Pretty sure a Lotus boss driving a brand new Lotus at 100mph is safer than most of those idiots driving old SUVs with no tyre tread at 50mph
^^^^^^
This 🙌
amen
Doesn’t matter- he has a test track anyway