Jimmy Choo boss banned for driving without insurance
Hannah Colman, who was appointed boss of Jimmy Choo in 2020 and was one of its first employees, had been driving for nearly four months without insurance before she was stopped in her Audi Q7 S Line in Chelsea, London, in November.
The fashion chief, 46, who earns £250,000 a year, was stopped with her daughter in the car, which is estimated to cost more than £72,000, and was not allowed to continue her journey home to Clapham until the insurance was renewed.
Colman pleaded guilty to driving without insurance at Lavender Hill magistrates' court in Battersea and said she was 'absolutely mortified' when she discovered the error.
The court heard that Colman had renewed her insurance policy last July, a month ahead of schedule, but the payment had bounced, and she missed the reminder email in September. 'It was a genuine mistake and one I am really sorry about,' Colman told the court.
John Tyler, the chairman of the bench, said he did not accept that Colman did not receive emails warning her to renew the insurance and said almost four months was a long time to have no cover in place.
Before a ban was issued, Colman's lawyer asked the court to consider that Colman relied on the car to drive her two children, aged eight and 11, to school. 'I drive every day and I take my two children to school every morning, then I drive to work,' she said. 'I used my car at the weekend for activities with my kids and husband.'
Colman had six points on her licence when she was stopped by police, which means she can expect to lose her licence for at least six months. She was also ordered to pay a £660 fine, which has been reduced from the initial £1,000 due to her early guilty plea. The total, including legal fees, was £1,017.
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Tyler told the court that a 'small consolation' for Colman was that she would receive a clean licence with no points once she had completed the duration of her ban.
Colman's journey to the top of Jimmy Choo started when she began working for the designer's first boutique in Motcomb Street in London in 1996. Choo founded the fashion house with Tamara Mellon, who was also serving as Vogue's accessories editor. At the time, Colman was dating Mellon's younger brother Daniel, which led to her introduction to the company.
The fashion brand, which has 234 stores worldwide, cut through the public consciousness when Princess Diana wore a pair of Choo's pale blue slingbacks with a sparkly Catherine Walker dress for a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1997. Sandra Choi, the creative director, later admitted: 'It really started everything for us.'
Before Colman was appointed as chief executive, she served as the brand's senior vice-president for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, then as president for global ecommerce and customer relationship management.
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