MEL C’s younger brother, from Widnes, has relived the time he stole her new car and wrote it off after crashing in Birchwood.
Paul O’Neill, a former British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) driver-turned-pundit, was 17 when he jumped into Sporty Spice’s Mercedes SLK and headed off to work in Warrington.
It was an expensive mistake with the then-factory worker losing control of the £35,000 motor before landing himself some unwanted publicity.
On a special BTCC-themed live recording of motoring podcast Fuelling Around, Paul, from Widnes, said: “I took my sister’s car without her knowing and crashed it into a lamp post.
“It was a Mercedes SLK and then Ron Dennis (former McLaren F1 chief) rang my mum and dad’s house.
“They launched the F1 cars in ‘96 or ‘97 and the Spice Girls all got SLK’s in different colours and he rang the house and was like: ‘Tell me what happened, because that’s cost us a few quid.’
“So that was nice.
“One of the main tech guys I now work with at McLaren, his name’s Zag, an Italian lad, found out that my sister was Mel and came up to me on a job and said: ‘I never thought it was you but you caused us a lot of grief. That car was at McLaren for ages and we had to do this and that.’
“That was a massive mistake.
“It was the front of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Star.
“I love the fact that I’ve tried as hard as I can in my career to make a name of myself and the only thing I’ve got is a smashed up Merc on the front of the Mirror.”
The ITV Sport pundit suffered minor injuries in the 1997 crash that happened just days after his half sister had passed her driving test, aged 23. The pair remain close and appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox together earlier this year.
O’Neill’s latest public appearance came alongside BTCC legend Jason Plato, his fellow co-host, former Radio One star ‘Comedy Dave’ Vitty, current racer Daniel Rowbottom and TV presenter Louise Goodman.
The quintet came together to talk about all things automotive during a Touring Car round at the home of British motorsport.
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