Banking heiress Kate Rothschild is seeking to avoid a driving ban after being caught using her phone at the wheel, saying she needs her car for emergencies as she lives in a remote cottage.
The 40-year-old was reported to the police by a cyclist after being spotted holding her phone while in the driver’s seat of her Audi Q7 in Fulham.
Rothschild has admitted the offence and faces a ban as she will have at least 12 points on her licence. However the mother-of-three will plead to be spared disqualification because of the effect it would have on her family. In a letter to Bromley magistrates court, Rothschild said she has a home in Fulham but mainly resides in a “very remote” cottage in the Wiltshire countryside.
“Taxis will often refuse to go up the track and emergency vehicles will not necessarily find it so not having a driver’s licence is really unsafe as my partner is often away and I have two teenage sons and a two-year-old boy,” she said.
“The thought of being at home with my sons and not being able to get them to a hospital should the need arise terrifies me.”
Rothschild, a scion of the banking dynasty, married financier Ben Goldsmith in 2003 and they have two sons together. She appears in court papers under the name Kate Goldsmith.
After their divorce in 2013, she started a relationship with entrepreneur Paul Forkan and they have a two-year-old son together. Rothschild, a music producer, was caught breaking the law on New King’s Road in Fulham in August.
Cyclist Beatrice Goater said she was passing the Audi at around 9.30am when she noticed the driver, a woman with “strawberry blonde hair”, was using her mobile phone. “I noticed the driver on her phone and I asked her to stop using it. She paid no attention.”
Police moved to prosecute the heiress as she already has too many points on her licence for a fixed penalty notice, and is expected to pass the 12-point threshold for a ban.
“My car had cut out and the ghost immobiliser had kicked in, stalling it,” she said, explaining the incident.
“My partner had recently changed the code after having two cars stolen and the new code was written in the notes section, which I was checking.
“I am, of course, aware that I have done wrong and that I have previous points on my licence, however I just hope that you can and you will take this all into consideration.”
A guilty plea was entered, and a magistrate adjourned sentencing until May 23 at Lavender Hill magistrates’ court.
