Celebrity chef Jason Atherton has been banned from driving after being caught speeding in his £150,000 Aston Martin.
The restaurateur, who has been embroiled in a sexism row and also recently lost his Michelin star at his flagship eatery, was clocked driving the luxury SUV at 26mph in a 20mph zone in Putney, west London on August 23, 2024.
Atherton, 53, who was executive chef at Gordon Ramsay‘s Michelin-starred Maze until 2010 before kickstarting his TV career, has racked up 12 points thanks to three separate speeding offences.
He was handed a six-month driving ban and ordered to pay more than £1,000 in fines and costs at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court in Clapham on Thursday.
‘The defendant currently has nine points on his licence for three speeding matters,’ said Sarah Hill, prosecuting. ‘The dates of the offences are September 10 2022, February 25 2024 and March 12 2024.’
Ruth Harris, representing Atherton, said the previous offences ‘related to three matters in which he had received the mandatory minimum three points for driving within 10mph of the limit’.
She added: ‘At least two of them, possibly the third, were just over 20mph in a 20mph zone.
‘He’s the only driver in his household, he shares a home with his wife and three children – he works six days a week.
Celebrity chef Jason Atherton has been banned from driving after being caught speeding in his £150,000 Aston Martin
The restaurateur pictured in an Aston Martin in April. He has also been ordered to pay more than £1,000 in fines and costs
‘His morning routine where he cooks breakfast with his family and then takes the children to school is the only quality time – intense quality time – he can have with his family.
‘He works late, often too late to get the tube home, and always too late to comfortably take the tube home. On his precious day off he is the only one who drives.’
Ms Harris said the circumstances constituted ‘hardship’ but did not ‘cross the bar into exceptional hardship’.
Atherton was ordered to pay a total of £1,042, comprising of a £666 fine, £266 surcharge and £110 towards costs, having admitted exceeding the speed limit.
It is the latest blow for the star after he got caught up in a row prompted by his claim that he ‘doesn’t really’ see sexism in professional kitchens.
Furious female chefs who say they have experienced rampant sexism in the male-dominated industry hit back at the Michelin-starred restaurateur’s comments in February – with one telling FEMAIL the extreme measures she has taken in her career to avoid unwanted attention from her male peers.
Mursal Saiq, who chef and founder of Cue Point Afghan BBQ based in Jujus Bar and Stage in east London, said she has deliberately worn ‘frumpy’ clothes while pitching business ideas to men, for fear of leering eyes and in a bid to be taken seriously as a chef.
Her comments come as 70 female chefs, including Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown and ‘queen of potatoes’ Poppy O’Toole hit back at 53-year-old Atherton’s inflammatory comments.
It comes after Atherton’s opulent City Social located in City of London lost its coveted Michelin star in February
The chef pictured in 2021. He also got caught up in a sexism row earlier this year which was prompted by his claim that he ‘doesn’t really’ see sexism in professional kitchens
The Sheffield-born restaurant owner, who has since claimed his comments were ‘taken out of context’, told The Times he felt that there was ‘too much focus’ on the issue of sexism within professional kitchens.
In a post on Instagram the following day, Atherton said he does not condone sexism and insisted many of the senior positions in his restaurant empire are held by women.
Nonetheless the interview has left some women in the industry ‘fuming’, sparking a #MeToo-style movement as they signed an open letter to Atherton.
Abe, previous contestant on Great British Menu, chef at The Pem and author of A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen, signed the letter, published in the Telegraph, in which they said Atherton’s comments had ‘outraged’ them.
Discussing Atherton’s remarks, Abe told the publication: ‘It’s insulting and painful. It’s so hard to speak out because there are so many powerful male chefs that you daren’t speak against. But now, luckily, there are 70 women in this WhatsApp group… This feels like our #MeToo movement, in some way.’
The letter further clarified the groups experiences, with a section reading: ‘Sexism has been and remains a pervasive issue in our industry, shaping the culture of our kitchens in ways that diminish the potential and contributions of countless talented women’.
The letter was also signed by Dara Klein of Tiella, celebrity chef and Saturday Kitchen regular Anna Haugh, and Romy Gill.
Sharing a snippet of the letter on her Instagram account, Abe said: ‘Let’s work for a fairer future, a diverse workplace is a happy workplace.’
Talking to Femail, the chef and founder of Cue Point in London, Mursal Saiq (pictured), discussed her experiences of inequality in the food industry
Her Instagram post also featured a screenshot from a WhatsApp chat in which Abe said she was ‘fuming’ and Klein sarcastically said of Atherton’s comments: ‘Wow, not inflammatory or biased at all.’
Responding to the row, Cue Point chef and founder Mursal Saiq, told Femail that misogyny in the industry is so rife that she’s self-financed her business to avoid the distressing work environments that men can create.
Saiq said: ‘As a female chef and female founder, my biggest… struggles are pitching, and just trying to do the same things that men are doing, [with] the same exact model, same investors, and same restaurateurs.
‘When you’re a woman, and when you’re a single woman, it seems to also mean that there’s an extra caveat that “you should sleep with me and then I will give you what you want”.
‘It’s becoming way too much, it’s becoming a constant, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve been self-financed for so long… it’s those old school mentalities that have not left or changed, people just pretend they have, but they really haven’t.’
To avoid unwanted attention in pitching meetings, Saiq would alter her appearance by wearing ‘frumpy clothes’ and ‘not putting make up on just so I could get my pitch meeting through’.
She added: ‘Then, what some people would do, they would pretend to be interested, or even if they are interested, they would make you come to multiple meetings to just see you and… potentially be a creep. So, you’re just totally messed around.’
The chef concluded: ‘As a founder in my own kitchen, I feel comfortable, but I do not feel comfortable in the larger industry at all.’
Female chefs, including Sally Abe (pictured), hit back at Atherton’s remarks with an open letter
The open letter also raised concerns about awards bodies, claiming that the winners and categories do not fairly represent female talent.
Responding to the backlash, Atherton released a lengthy statement to his Instagram account to ‘put the record straight’.
He wrote: ‘I do not condone sexism in the industry or anywhere. A high per cent of our staff are women. Some of our most senior positions are held by women.
‘My family is all women except for me – my wife and three young growing daughters, so sexism couldn’t be further from my worldview.’
He added that he had been caught ‘off guard’ by the sexism question, and that his response had been ‘taken out of context’.
Atherton continued: ‘I didn’t feel it was my place to answer that question myself and tried to move onto another topic, by simply saying I hadn’t witnessed any sexism, however those few comments have been taken out of context and used in the headline.
‘And regarding my quote on moving on from the past, that was about negativity in the industry, not sexism.
‘I do generally believe our industry has moved on a lot in the last decade. I simply meant we are all working hard to make it a much better place. Of course nothing is perfect in life.’
Sally and Dara Klein spearheaded the open letter after discussing Atherton’s comments on WhatsApp
When asked whether women still experience sexism in kitchens today, he had replied: ‘No, not really. I’ve not seen it. Any industry has its ups and downs. I think there’s way too much focus on our industry because of that.
‘In the past, the hours have been long. It’s been brutal, but that’s behind us. But that [sexism] was also in journalism, it was also in fashion. It wasn’t just our industry. It was society in general.
‘I think there’s too much focus on the negative side of our industry, rather than what is great like the fact that you can be any gender now in our industry and flourish.’
Earlier in February, Atherton’s opulent City Social located in City of London lost its coveted Michelin star.
The Sheffield-born celebrity chef secured the accolade for the upmarket dining spot, which boasts panoramic skyline views of the city, within six months of its opening in 2014.
However, it was revealed that City Social is no longer in possession of the star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2025.
The guide recognises some of the best restaurants in the world by awarding up to three of its prestigious stars – and can make or break reputations.
It’s the second blow for the chef who also shut his Pollen Street Social restaurant last year after a 14-year run.
At the time of its closure, Atherton said: ‘The London dining scene is fast-paced, and diners are looking for something a little different,’ according to The Caterer.
Atherton was also accused of ‘bullying’ young chefs in a BBC2 cookery show, The Chefs’ Brigade, in 2019.
The chef admitted to being incandescent with rage during filming after his young team served food late and plated dishes badly in a Norwegian cookery challenge.
Viewers watching the second episode of the programme, which aimed to unearth hidden talent working in the UK food industry, branded Atherton a ‘bullying b******’ and said it was hard to believe such shouting in the kitchen was still acceptable.
