It’s good to be the boss.
Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Lotus sports cars, sweet-talked a British court into letting him off with a slap on the wrist after he was caught zooming around the countryside at 102 mph.
He should have lost his license, but the magistrate agreed to a 30-day driving ban and a $900 fine.
“There are people out there doing far worse – someone driving at 35mph on their mobile phone is far more dangerous,” Simon Nicholls, Gales’ attorney, told the Telegraph, adding that the court had made a “common sense” decision.
Nicholls had an even better argument when he appeared in front of the magistrates. He calmly explained that Gales wasn’t joyriding, oh no, he was simply testing driving his company’s product. Just like he was a few years ago when he was clocked going 96 mph and fined $400.
Why use a test track when you can careen around England instead?
Gales has multiple serious dings on his driving record. If the magistrates hadn’t gone easy on him, he probably would have lost his license for at least a year.
“Driving over the speed limit is selfish, reckless and endangers lives. There is no justification for traveling at the speeds demonstrated in this case and Mr. Gales should count himself lucky that he did not receive an additional six points on his license, resulting in a 12-month ban,” Joshua Harris, director of campaigns at road safety charity Brake, said.
“Excessive speeding is a menace on our roads and the law should be used to its fullest extent, making clear that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
Gales is used to things going his way. The successful executive lives in Italy but spends most of the week working in the UK. He studied at one of the best-ranked universities in the world before going on to fill prestigious roles at companies like Saab and Mercedes-Benz.
(Source: Telegraph)