Yahoo News Boris Becker gets fine and points for texting at wheel
Tennis star Boris Becker was caught by a police officer sending a text message while driving and not wearing a seatbelt as he accelerated along Chelsea Embankment, a court heard.
The BBC pundit, 51, and three-times Wimbledon champion was spotted using an iPhone while at the wheel of his Mercedes, texting with his right hand while using his left to steer.
Bromley magistrates’ court was told Pc Anthony Wright was on traffic patrol at 12.30pm on June 18 when he spotted Becker’s Mercedes drifting through a stop line at a red traffic light and went to investigate.
“I observed the driver... travelling at around 10-15mph and accelerating,” he said, in a written statement about the incident.
“I could clearly see the driver and sole occupant was holding an iPhone 7 in his right hand and was operating the device with his right thumb.”
Pc Wright said he also saw Becker was not wearing a seatbelt and pulled the car over near Chelsea Embankment Gardens.
“As I spoke to the driver at the side of the road, he opened the handset and I could clearly see that a text message was in the process of being typed”, he added.
The officer said Becker was cautioned and replied: “It was on loudspeaker.”
Becker, who lives in Battersea, was given a six-month driving ban in July after racking up four traffic offences in three years.
His latest misdemeanour, committed a month before he was given the ban, was dealt with by the court last month, when Becker was given another six points on his licence, fined £270, and ordered to pay £130 in costs and fees.
The case was heard under the single justice procedure, in a closed-door session in front of a single magistrate.
Becker did not take up an initial offer of a fixed penalty fine and was convicted and sentenced in his absence on September 17. Details of the offence came to light this week after a Standard request for the court papers.
