Former England captain Wayne Rooney has been charged with drink driving after being pulled over while taking a 29-year-old brunette home from a night out in her Volkswagen Beetle.
The 31-year-old striker had earlier been seen dancing on the tables and singing Oasis songs during what sources close to him called an ‘all-day, all-night’ drinking session with friends close to his £6million home last night.
The ex-Manchester United star’s pregnant wife Coleen, 31, was on holiday in Mallorca while the footballer’s night of hi-jinks unfolded.
Rooney posed for selfies with fans at a host of bars and restaurants near his Prestbury home before attempting to drive home in a black car owned by the 29-year-old office worker from Salford, Greater Manchester, just after 2am.
Some 10 hours earlier he met up with former Manchester United team mate Wes Brown and Burnley defender Phil Bardsley’s younger brother to begin their night.
The trio went for a meal at Italian restaurant Piccolino in Alderley Edge at around 4pm and then moved onto the plush Bubble Room bar where they partied until 10pm.
Onlookers saw the trio singing and dancing to local band Funky Treacle, who were playing Oasis covers and Rooney was seen bellowing their rendition of Wonderwall at around 10pm.
The group moved on to a club in nearby Wilmslow before Rooney opted to try and drive a woman who had partied with them home, as she was too drunk to drive herself, sources close to him told MailOnline.
After his arrest he spent almost 12 hours in cells before being bailed and driven home by his agent Paul Stretford while making stony-faced phonecalls on his mobile.
Rooney was driven back to his Cheshire mansion by his agent after being released from custody on Friday afternoon
Wayne Rooney was photographed smiling next to fan Jack McIver in the Bubble Room bar in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, last night. Around four hours later Rooney was arrested
Coleen Rooney was photographed in Mallorca showing off her baby bump (left) after she confirmed the couple (right) are expecting their fourth child together
In the early hours of this morning, the group were seen inside the ‘late-night’ cocktail bar Symposium in the nearby town of Wilmslow, just two miles away. The venue is owned by Hollyoaks actor Ashley Taylor-Dawson.
After leaving the venue, Rooney was pulled over while driving a black VW Beetle and was arrested by officers. A source told Metro that he was three times over the limit.
He was today granted bail and was spotted wearing last night’s clothes after spending the night at Middlewich Custody Suite.
The former Champions League winner looked dispirited on the phone while slumped in the back of the Range Rover as he was driven home by his agent Paul Stretford.
Cheshire Police today confirmed they have charged Rooney with driving whilst over the prescribed limit.
He was pulled over just yards from Symposium and was today released on bail. He is due to appear at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on September 18.
A photograph of Rooney smiling with fan and county cricketer Jack McIver inside Bubble Room was posted on McIver’s Instagram page at 10pm last night.
His cricket team mate Gary Davies told MailOnline: ‘He will get some stick tomorrow when he plays.’
Rooney was alleged as being ‘visibly drunk’ and an onlooker said he was being ‘friendly’ and ‘nice to people’. He was seen drinking vodka and lager, according to people in the bar.
A source told MailOnline: ‘I saw Wayne Rooney with two of his friends inside Symposium at around 2am.’
The source said he thought that Rooney was ‘visibly drunk’ and said he would be ‘surprised’ if it was true the football star later got behind the wheel.
Another witness said Rooney was drinking beer inside Bubble Room.
They told MailOnline: ‘Wayne was with Wes Brown and Phil Bardsley’s younger brother.
‘They were singing songs and watching the live band. They all sang Wonderwall by Oasis.
‘I left at about 10.30pm and Wayne was just drinking beer.’
A police spokesman said: ‘The man was arrested shortly after 2.00am today, Friday 1 September, after officers stopped a black VW Beetle on Altrincham Road, Wilmslow.
‘Wayne Rooney, aged 31, has since been charged with driving whilst over the prescribed limit.
‘Rooney has been released on bail and is due to appear at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on 18/9/2017.’
Funky Treacle band member Neil Shaw-Hulme was performing at Bubble Bar while Rooney was partying. He said the crowd ‘went wild’ when he belted out Oasis.
The singer told MailOnline: ‘It was a happy night and there was a party for someone’s 25th.
‘I didn’t see Rooney – I was playing guitar sax and keys whilst singing so I tend to be quite focused.’
The owner of the ‘late night’ cocktail bar where Rooney was last seen before being arrested on suspicion of drink driving claims the footballer had a ‘good time’.
George Yiannis claimed that the Everton striker had come into swanky bar Symposium after previously being in The Bubble Room across the road.
However he claimed he nor any of his staff had served Rooney any alcohol to his knowledge and were unaware that he had been arrested until reading the news this morning.
The chef, who co-owns the bar, said: ‘Rooney was in here last night and I think he had a good time.
‘I know I didn’t serve him a drink and I’m not sure if anyone else did but as far as I know he didn’t drink in here.
‘Whether he’d been drinking somewhere else is a different thing. I heard he went to The Bubble Room then came here.
Police officers were filmed parked outside Rooney’s home in Cheshire after he was arrested on suspicion of drink driving
An onlooker described seeing Rooney in the Symposium cocktail bar at around 2am on Friday morning
The trio went for a meal at Italian restaurant Piccolino in the village at around 4pm (pictured)
Rooney was singing and dancing inside the Bubble Room bar at 10pm, which is just five miles from his home in Prestbury. He was later spotted inside the Symposium cocktail bar up until 2am – but was later arrested just yards away
‘He had his night out and he left but I’m not too sure what time as I was so busy behind the bar.
‘Then I woke up to the news that he had been done for drink driving.
‘It isn’t a great thing to do and we wouldn’t encourage anyone to do it.’
Mr and Mrs Rooney have lived in Cheshire for the past 12 years, in a mansion in Prestbury, not far from the Everton training ground at Finch Farm.
This is the latest drink-related indiscretion in Rooney’s private life which have often run parallel to an impressive playing career.
Last November he was seen ‘stumbling around’ and could ‘hardly speak’ after crashing a wedding following England’s win over Scotland in a World Cup qualifier.
The striker joined England teammates at the upmarket The Grove Hotel in Watford, Hertfordshire.
Wearing an England shirt, Rooney appeared happy to be recognised as the team enjoyed rounds of beer and red wine with members of the FA.
The father-of-three reportedly stayed on after most of the group turned in for the night and posed for photos with wedding guests.
A source said: ‘His speech was slurred, his lips were red with wine and his eyes were red.
‘At midnight he was asked if he would come and say hello to guests at a private wedding party.’
The source added: ‘He was really s***-faced. He was not a pretty sight by the time he left around 1am.’
Former England captain Wayne Rooney (pictured) has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving
Coleen recently announced they are expecting their fourth child and it is believed the couple, along with their three children, Kai, Klay and Kit are planning to move to a new £10million mansion.
Before the start of this season, Rooney re-signed for boyhood club Everton this summer after rejoining from Manchester United.
He also announced his retirement from international football last week after scoring 53 goals in 119 caps for England.
Since his return to Goodison Park, Rooney has scored two goals in three games and played in his side’s 2-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
Rooney is not the first international footballer to be stopped on suspicion of drink driving.
In February, Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino was banned from the road for 12 months and fined £20,000 after admitting drink driving.
The Brazilian, 25, was stopped and breathalysed at 3am on Christmas Eve on Strand Street in Liverpool city centre.
Firmino had 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath, which is above the legal limit of 35.
In a statement issued after the hearing, he said: ‘I apologise, without reservation, to the club, the manager, my team-mates and the supporters for putting myself in this situation. What I have done is wrong and sets a bad example.’
Crashing weddings and bedding prostitutes: Wayne Rooney’s checkered past
By Charlie Moore
From crashing weddings to bedding prostitutes, Rooney has an infamous history of misdemeanors.
In July 2004 it was revealed that Rooney cheated on his then girlfriend Coleen with a prostitute Charlotte Glover. He paid the 21-year-old £140 before leaving her with a signed autograph as a souvenir.
One month late he had sex with prostitute Gina McCarrick, 37, at a brothel in Liverpool which charges £45 a time.
Checkered past: From crashing weddings to bedding prostitutes, Rooney has an infamous history of misdemeanors
He visited her 10 times and was caught on CCTV. At the same brothel he slept with 48-year-old grandmother Patricia Tierney, who wore a rubber catsuit and was know as the ‘Auld Slapper’.
Rooney later apologised, saying: ‘Foolish as it now seems I did on occasions visit massage parlours and prostitutes.
‘I now regret it deeply and hope people may understand that it was the sort of mistake you make when you are young and stupid. It was at a time when I was very young and immature.’
In 2008, Rooney was pictured smoking in the pool of his Las Vegas hotel while on his honeymoon with Coleen.
Wayne Rooney and girlfriend Coleen Mcloughlin, who he cheated on with prostitutes
Footballers, who need to remain in peak physical condition, are banned from smoking but a source said: ‘He didn’t seem to have a care in the world’.
In July 2009 Rooney slept with a £1,000-a-night prostitute while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their son Kai.
He met up with Jennifer Thompson, 21, seven times over four months and even took her on dates to bars, clubs and casinos.
He thought Coleen would leave him, saying: ‘My life is in ruins…I’ve been so stupid,’ but she took him back.
Rooney was later spotted smoking in the street and urinating behind a bottle bank as he stayed up until dawn at a Manchester nightclub.
Then in November last year Rooney gatecrashed a wedding after a late-night drinking session in Hertfordshire.
Rooney, 31, joined England teammates at The Grove Hotel in Watford, Hertfordshire where they took photos with wedding guests
In May 2010, before England crashed out of the World Cup in South Africa, father-of-three Rooney insisted being a father had changed his life.
He said: ‘Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to.’
‘Now I have someone to look after and I just want to be with Kai and Coleen as much as possible. I don’t go clubbing very much anymore, maybe only a couple of times a year. I’m now in bed by 10.30pm.’
‘I’d have given you a lift pal!’ Internet reacts to Wayne Rooney drink driving claims with onslaught of memes as fan who posed with the star striker at 2am jokes that he’d have driven him home
By Scott Campbell
The internet has reacted with an onslaught of memes after former England captain Wayne Rooney was charged with drink driving following a night on the town.
One fan who met the star striker in the early hours even joked that he would have given the footballer a lift home.
The 31-year-old striker was seen dancing on the tables and singing Oasis songs in the Bubble Room bar in Alderley Edge, close to his £6million home last night.
He posed for selfies with fans and was later stopped by police while driving a black car just after 2am and is believed to have been three times the limit, according to the Metro.
Mr Rooney, pictured right, is pictured with fan Kayman Swindlehurst – who joked the next day about the star striker’s arrest
The footballer was compared to Shrek as Twitter reacted to his arrest
Kayman Swindlehurst, 26, who posted a picture taken with Mr Rooney at 2am, today joked about the star’s arrest.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Can’t believe I met my idol last night then he gets arrested an hour later for drink driving.’
Tagging the footballer, the 27-year-old, from Wilmslow, added: ‘I’d have given you a lift pal.’
The allegations have provoked a hilarious backlash online with the footballer compared to Shrek as fans mock his arrest with dozens of memes.
One Twitter user named Josh Riley joked: ‘Great to see Rooney’s legged England to get on the ale. The Everton effect.’
One user named Josh Riley wrote: ‘Great to see Rooney’s legged England to get on the ale. The Everton effect’
Another added an image of the character Shrek, writing: ‘Dashcam footage of Wayne Rooney walkin (sic) a straight line for police last night.’
One of the memes featured a man blowing into a breathalyser with the hashtag ‘FridayFeeling’.
Mr Rooney was this afternoon spotted looking sheepish while on the phone as he was driven back to his Cheshire home by his agent Paul Stretford.
Last night, he was partying with his former Manchester United teammate Wes Brown and Burnley defender Phil Bardsley’s younger brother.
Onlookers saw the trio singing and dancing to local band Funky Treacle, who were playing Oasis covers and Rooney was seen bellowing their rendition of Wonderwall at around 10pm.
One of the memes featured a man blowing into a breathalyser with the hashtag ‘FridayFeeling’
The internet reacted with an onslaught of hilarious images and tweets following Mr Rooney’s arrest
Rooney’s wife Coleen was pictured on holiday in Mallorca showing off her baby bump earlier this week and she is believed to be on her way home.
The former Champions League winner looked dispirited on the phone while slumped in the back of the Range Rover as he was driven home by his agent Paul Stretford.
He was granted bail and was spotted wearing last night’s clothes after spending the night at Middlewich Custody Suite.
In the early hours of this morning, the trio were seen inside the ‘late-night’ cocktail bar Symposium in the nearby town of Wilmslow, just two miles away. The venue is owned by Hollyoaks actor Ashley Taylor-Dawson.
The group were spotted earlier that day eating at Italian restaurant Piccolino in the village at around 4pm.
Cheshire Police today confirmed they have charged Rooney with driving whilst over the prescribed limit.
He was pulled over just yards from Symposium and was today released on bail. He is due to appear at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on September 18.
