US air safety chief held on drink-drive charge

Transport chiefs in America have suspended the country’s most senior air safety official after police arrested him for alleged drink driving.

Randy Babbitt, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, was stopped in a suburb of Washington DC on Saturday after being spotted allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road.

Transport secretary Ray LaHood, who has campaigned against drink-driving, was told of the incident on Monday.

In a statement, the transport department said Babbitt had been placed on a leave of absence while it consulted lawyers over his employment status. Last week, president Barack Obama designated December as “national impaired driving prevention month”.