London: France’s World Cup-winning captain Hugo Lloris has been banned from driving for 20 months and fined after pleading guilty to a charge of drunk driving.
The 31-year-old Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper admitted being more than twice above the drunk-drive limit of 35 micrograms when he was stopped by police in central London last month.
Lloris, who won the World Cup with France in July, was fined £50,000 pounds (Dh239,142) at Westminster Magistrates’ court.
Prosecutor Henry Fitch said police found Lloris in an unmarked car driving at 15mph in a 30mph zone.
The court heard that Lloris veered his car “towards parked vehicles” before correcting himself and went through a red light.
David Sonn, defending, said the “spectacular fall from grace” was not lost on Lloris.
“On July 15 he was arguably the proudest man on the planet [having captained France to a World Cup triumph],” Sonn was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Just 40 days later, he was arrested. He experienced the indignity of being handcuffed and put in a police station overnight.”
Lloris, who joined Spurs from Olympique Lyonnais in 2012, apologised for the incident after he was charged by the Metropolitan Police last month.