Most students would feel a £20,000-plus fine for driving over the limit was a calamity, but Katharina G Andresen got off lightly. Drink-driving penalties in Norway are means-tested, and since Andresen – a tobacco heiress with assets estimated at NOK7.7bn (£710m) – is reportedly the country’s richest woman, the fine could have been much higher. The equivalent in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 0.08 and many Europeans have a limit of between 0.04 and 0.05. “I thought I had waited long enough not to be over the limit any more,” she told financial daily Finansavisen. The family’s wealth stems originally from its acquisition of the celebrated Norwegian tobacco company JL Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrik in 1859.

Source: The Guardian November 17, 2017 14:39 UTC