A businessman caught drink driving a supercar home from the Goodwood Festival of Speed says he was only over the limit because his drinks had been spiked with vodka, a court has heard.
Robert Stanbury, 47, admits he had four beers and two glasses of wine when he attended the motorsports festival in the grounds of Goodwood House in West Sussex.
He says he switched to non-alcoholic mocktails during an evening dinner so he could drive home, and believes they were laced without his knowledge with double shots of vodka.
Stanbury was pulled over by police in Roehampton, southwest London at around 3am on July 14, when his speech was slurred, he had glazed eyes, and he was unsteady on his feet.
An officer said the Maserati had come past at speed, and Stanbury smelled of alcohol when he was pulled over.
At Wimbledon magistrates court, Stanbury gave evidence of his day out at the premier motoring event in a bid to be spared a driving ban.
The 2024 festival drew a crowd of around 200,000 people, and was attended by Formula One drivers including Daniel Ricciardo and racing legends including Sir Jackie Stewart.
Stanbury said he had four pints of beer between 1pm and 7pm, and two glasses of rosé wine when they sat down to dinner.
As the party tucked into food and later cigars, Stanbury claims he switched to elderflower and lime soft drinks.
“I thought I was drinking mocktails”, he told District Judge Andrew Sweet.
“The taste was quite sharp of elderflower and lime with fizz in it.”
When Stanbury, a fast car enthusiast who has been the director of several businesses, came to leave the event at 1.30am in a Maserati Gran Turismo, he said he felt “quite tired”.
“It had been a long day walking around, I put it down to that”, he said.
Stanbury says he had around eight mocktails, and believes each may have contained 50mls of vodka put in by a junior mechanic at the dinner – where there was a makeshift bar in operation.
“It transpires a group at the other end of the table started pouring vodka into the mocktails, thinking it was mixers, and sharing it around. This is what I was served”, he said.
Alberto Solera, Stanbury’s friend and business partner who invited him to the Goodwood dinner, told the court he found out about the vodka addition when he learned of the drink driving arrest.
“I quizzed everyone there about what was going on, and some of the younger staff were pouring vodka into those mixing jugs – they thought everyone could have a good time.”
Stanbury, who lives in Putney Hill, also presented an expert report to the court, which suggested he was unlikely to have been over the drink drive limit if he had just drunk the beers and wine earlier in the day.
He argued “special reasons” to be spared the road ban which traditionally accompanies a drink driving offence.
Judge Sweet refused the application, saying Stanbury was legally responsible for his state when getting into a vehicle.
“A person who chooses to consume non-alcoholic drinks, especially after consuming alcoholic drinks, is under a positive duty to make enquiries as to the content of the drinks”, he said.
“A driver who assumes drinks don’t contain alcohol is taking a risk.”
He said that by the time Stanbury reached the Maserati, his body and behaviour “must have indicated to him there was something not right about what he had consumed.
“That should have alerted him not to get into his vehicle.”
Stanbury, who pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, was banned from the road for the next 20 months, he was ordered to pay a £200 fine, plus £500 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.
