A high-ranking female bishop has reportedly been caught drink driving.

Drink driving limit In Germany, the drink driving limit is 1.1 parts per thousand. Driving over the limit is treated as a crime. The appropriate penalty is a fine or imprisonment for up to one year. In addition, there is a driving ban for between six months and five years. 1 / 1 vorheriges Element nächstes Element

Margot Kässmann (51), head of the Evangelical Church in Germany and the country's most senior Protestant minister, was stopped by police in Hanover on Saturday.

She was asked to take an alcohol test which according to BILD's information produced a result of 1.54 parts per thousand. A Church spokesman claimed the figure was actually 1.1.

Kässmann, the Chairwoman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), allegedly drove her VW Phaeton company car through a red light in the centre of Hanover by the town hall.

When she was stopped, a police officer smelt alcohol from inside the car and asked Kässmann to take an alcohol test.

A blood sample was taken which will be tested in a lab. If the level of alcohol in the blood is confirmed, the bishop will face preliminary proceedings of a prosecution.

Kaessmann apparently told the police that she had only drunk a glass of wine. But the bishop has had to hand over her driving licence!

Nutritional expert Sven-David Müller(40) said: “A woman who is 1.6 m tall and who weighs around 55 kilos has to drink around 0.7 litres of wine or 1.5 litres of beer within an hour to have 1.3 parts per thousand of alcohol in the blood.

"Many factors play a role, for example, how often one drinks or how much one has eaten beforehand.”

Margot Kässmann told BILD: “I am myself shocked that I have made such a serious mistake. I know how dangerous drink driving is. I will of course surrender to the legal consequences."

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