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by Lamiat Sabin
THE boss who drove BHS into the ground moaned yesterday that he wouldn’t be able to afford a chauffeur after being banned from getting behind the wheel for speeding.
Dominic Chappell, who funnelled millions out of BHS over the 13 months he owned it after paying Sir Philip Green just £1 for the high street chain, said it would be a “stretch” to hire a driver on his declared annual income of £250,000.
He told Aldershot magistrates’ court that he would struggle to afford taxis and claims that he gets “abuse” on public transport over his crashing and burning of the 88-year-old company.
Around 11,000 BHS workers lost their jobs and a £571 million black hole was left in pension funds when the chain collapsed in April after he bought it through his company Retail Acquisitions in 2015.
Mr Chappell brought BHS “to its knees,” shopworkers’ union Usdaw said.
“Redundant shopworkers will find it hard to understand him pleading poverty in court, when his income over a fortnight is around the same as his former staff would earn in a year,” said the union.
Mr Chappell — who has been bankrupted at least twice — was driving his Range Rover in Hampshire on April 6 when police clocked him driving at an average speed of 63.9mph in a 40mph zone.
He was given six points on his licence, disqualified from driving for six months, fined £665 and ordered to pay £150 costs.
He already had 10 points from three other speeding offences.
Mr Chappell pleaded with the court to not take his licence.
He claimed his wife drives 100 miles a day to take his son to a private boarding school, where his daughter is also a boarder.
Their manor house in the village of Winterborne Clenston, Dorset, is apparently two miles from a bus stop and around 20 miles from the nearest train station.
He said he needed to drive to meetings in London four days a week for discussions over the collapse of BHS, for which he claimed he has to take “about 20,000 documents.”
Asked about BHS workers, he said: “I feel very sorry for them. British Home Stores has been a very difficult turnaround for us and I do regret that situation.”
