TV executive Jimmy Mulville swore and made a rude gesture towards a cyclist after being caught on camera using his mobile phone while driving his £140,000 Aston Martin.
The 68-year-old comedian who co-founded Hat Trick Productions reacted angrily after he was caught out checking a text as he drove over on Battersea Bridge last July.
Discovering he had been spotted, Mulville “flipped the bird” and shouted “go f*** yourself” towards cyclist Mike van Erp, City of London magistrates court heard.
Mulville, who came into comedy through the famous Cambridge footlights, is behind hit TV shows including Have I Got News For You, Room 101, FaceJacker, and Father Ted in his role at the helm of Hat Trick.
He was prosecuted for an offence of driving while using his mobile phone over the incident on July 29, 2022.
Mulville was absent from his trial due to illness but represented by a lawyer, as magistrates found him guilty of the offence. He was ordered to pay a £1000 fine, £625 in costs, a £400 court fee, and he received six points on his licence.
The court heard Mulville was previously banned from driving in 2020, and has another three points on his licence from October last year for a speeding offence.
Mr van Erp told the court he has reported around 1,100 motorists for driving offences in the last five years, including many for using their mobile phones while driving. He was involved in the high-profile prosecutions of film director Guy Ritchie and ex-champion boxer Chris Eubank.
He was cycling home when he noticed Mulville’s Aston Martin Rapide not keeping up with queueing traffic moving forward, then accelerating sharply – behaviour he referred to as the “WhatsApp gap”.
“I commented to myself it was symptomatic of a distracted driver and I wondered if he was on the phone”, he said.
“I stopped next to the driver’s side window of the Aston Martin, I saw the driver was busy typing on the phone.”
Mr van Erp said he saw the driver “typing with both hands”, before quickly shutting down the app he was using when he spotted he was being watched.
“At this point he flipped me the bird and mouthed to me something rude”, he said. “I believe it was ‘go f*** yourself’.”
Mulville was represented by Freeman and Co, the law firm of ‘Mr Loophole’ Nick Freeman, and in pre-trial correspondence he challenged much of the evidence put forward by the Met Police, including the suggestion he had been caught using his phone.
However at trial, his barrister Sam Thomas conceded Mulville admits using his phone to look at a text.
“This was entirely out of character for him”, said Mr Thomas. “At the time, there were family concerns and he did look at the phone to look at a text message.”
Mulville, who lives in Kensington, accepted being the driver when written to by the Met Police last summer. He was prosecuted after not paying a Fixed Penalty fine.
He now has 28 days to pay the penalties imposed by magistrates.
