Year-long ban for soup tycoon Baxter after drunken hospital trip

AUDREY Baxter, one of the wealthiest women in Scotland and the head of the Baxters soup empire, has admitted driving at almost twice the legal alcohol limit on Christmas Eve.

She was fined £600 and banned from driving for a year after being arrested on 24 December. The 50-year-old food tycoon was said to have been in a “state of panic” when she got behind the wheel of her Range Rover 4X4 to drive her partner, Keith Bell, to hospital after he became violently ill at their luxury home near Elgin.

Elgin Sheriff Court was told yesterday Baxter parked her car in the hospital car park, blocking the ambulance bay.

Members of staff suspected she had been drink driving and she was arrested after police were called.

A breath test revealed she had 58mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, nearly twice the legal limit of 35mcg. Fiscal depute Shona Duncan said the businesswoman had arrived at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin at about 9pm on Christmas Eve.

She said: “She was seen getting out of the driver’s seat and assisting her partner into the accident and emergency department.”

The court heard staff noticed her breath smelled of alcohol. Another witness was of the opinion that she was “clearly under the influence of alcohol”.

She was asked to remove her 4x4 from the ambulance bay 45 minutes after she arrived and was seen driving away. When police arrived at her house, she said: “I know I shouldn’t have driven. My husband is sick and I had to take him to hospital.”

Defence lawyer Diane Turner said Baxter had attended a party a few hours before the incident and then returned home. She then had two large glasses of wine while cooking.