Home and Away star Kate Ritchie charged with drink driving

The former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie has been slapped with a three month driving ban. Photo / Instagram

Radio host and former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie has been charged with drink driving and slapped with a three-month driving ban.

Police allege that Ritchie, 44, was driving over the limit in the suburb of Pagewood, in Sydney's east, on Monday afternoon.

She was pulled over in her blue Subaru station wagon just before 2.45pm for a random breath test and allegedly blew a positive result, police told news.com.au.

The celebrity was then taken back to Maroubra police station for a second test which allegedly showed she had blood alcohol reading of 0.06.

She was issued with an infringement notice for the offence of driving with low-range prescribed concentration of alcohol and had her driver's licence suspended.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Ritchie was fined $600 on the spot and banned from going on the road for three months.

In the past few months, Ritchie has been appearing irregularly on her Nova radio shows. Photo / Supplied

Ritchie is well-known for her role as Sally Fletcher on Home and Away from 1998-2008. Currently, she is a prominent radio host at Nova FM.

The driving suspension came right before she was set to hit television screens as a judge on Australia's Got Talent.

The reality show has reportedly finished shooting but does not have a release date yet.

In the past few months, Ritchie has been appearing irregularly on her radio shows with several absences.

The latest absence was blamed on her having a bout of Covid-19.

Ritchie split from her husband, retired rugby league player Stuart Webb, in 2019.

The TV icon was dating 25-year-old security consultant John Bell but made headlines at the end of last year because they had reportedly broken up.

Ritchie was on Home and Away for 20 years. Photo / Instagram

Ritchie also found herself in the news in 2021 because she revealed in an emotional appearance on an ABC programme that she was lost after quitting her Home and Away role in 2008.

"It was just so frightening. What do I actually do when someone doesn't hand me a schedule on a Friday afternoon and tell me where to be on a Monday?" she said at the time.