Barbara Knox pleads guilty to drink-driving away from police station: Coronation Street actress, 80, fined £3,000

Prosecutor Jonathan Egan told Crewe Magistrates Court that police had warned Knox that she was too drunk to drive home from the station

Veteran Coronation Street star Barbara Knox has admitted to drink-driving after she was caught by police “intoxicated and slurring her words” in a supermarket car park.

The actress, who plays Rita Tanner in the long-running soap, was followed and stopped by officers when a member of the public reported that they believed the driver of the Jaguar vehicle she was a passenger in was under the influence of alcohol.

The car was being driven by her 56-year-old daughter Maxine Ashcroft, who was found to be three times over the legal limit when she was breathalysed at Middlewich police station.

Prosecutor Jonathan Egan told Crewe Magistrates Court that police had warned Knox that she was too drunk to drive home from the station she attended with her daughter and offered to give her a lift.

However, she refused to comply and left to drive herself home anyway.

Officers tailed Knox’s car to Booths supermarket in Knutsford.

She was stopped and breathalysed before being arrested.

A blood sample showed she had 85mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the court heard. The limit is 80ml.

Knox’s lawyer, Nick Freeman, offered her “profuse apologies”.

“Officers gave her every opportunity not to commit this offence,” he told the court.

“She now suffers the indignity of forfeiting her previous good character.”

Knox was fined £3,000 and banned from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty.

She has also been ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,750.

Her daughter, Ashcroft, was banned from driving for two years in April 2014.