Nick Knowles: I'll keep my phone in the boot after driving ban

TV presenter Nick Knowles has said he will keep his mobile phone in the boot from now on after being banned from driving.

The DIY SOS host appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court today where he was sentenced to a six month driving ban and fined almost £1,500 for speeding and using his mobile phone at the wheel.

Knowles said: “I shouldn’t have used my mobile phone and it’s actually made me rethink having the phone even in the car so now I stick it in the boot when I do long distances, which I wont be doing for a while as I’ve been banned for six months.”

The 56-year-old presenter and former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestant was pled guilty to exceeding 70mph in a Range Rover on the A417 Brockworth Bypass at junction 11A of the M5 on January 28.

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He also admitted using a handheld mobile phone while driving at the same place on the same date.

Accepting his sentence in court Knowles asked the Magistrate: "I can drive home, right?... I'm joking."

He previously told The Sun: “I was advised by some people to get a top lawyer and contest this, but I’ve held my hands up, said I’m guilty (in writing) and will be going to court next week for sentencing.

“I’m expecting to get a ban from driving and I will absolutely accept that because what I did was wrong.

“It’s all too easy to drive a bit too fast or read or send a text, but let me be the lesson to everyone, it’s not OK.”

Knowles, 56, told the newspaper that he now puts his phone in the boot of his car before he gets behind the wheel.

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“Since this incident“ he explained, “I’ve noticed so many doing it and I don’t want to be that person. Texts can wait till I get wherever I’m going.

“I’ve started putting my phone in the boot of my car before I set off driving.

"I have Bluetooth and can answer calls, but it’s out of reach.

“We all need to start realising that no phone call or text is ever that important.”