Bruce Jones admits dangerous driving

Bruce Jones has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

The 57-year-old who played Coronation Street's Les Battersby for 10 years, grabbed the steering wheel from his wife Sandra and tried to crash their Mercedes M Class car at high speed on a busy road.

Jones, who appeared under his real name of Ian Roy Jones, admitted the charge after his trial jury was discharged.

Jones, who has been married for 26 years, was drunk in the passenger seat when he became angry and grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it up and down, causing the car to swerve dangerously. Mrs Jones steadied the car and stopped it safely at a nearby pub. But as she got out, the actor grabbed her wrist.

The ex-Weatherfield star, of Knutsford Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, has had a drink problem for years, she told the court.

A charge of common assault was ordered to lie on file. Jones also admitted drink-driving. He was two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit, the court was told.

Outside court, the actor said he wanted to beat his alcohol addiction and save his marriage.

He issued a statement through his barrister, Dominic D'Souza, and stood next to him as he said: "Mr Jones accepts for the first time that he has an alcohol problem which he needs to address. It is one that has caused him significant problems over the last five or six years and resulted finally in him being in this situation today.

"He very much wants to address this with privacy and get his life together and save a marriage that has lasted over 26 years. He is very regretful at having his wife subjected to cross-examination in court and found the whole experience very distressing."

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