While having the odd pint or glass of wine might not feel like a lot, it can have devastating consequences when drivers break the law behind the wheel. Provisional estimates released by the UK Department of Transport , indicate 220 people were killed in crashes in Great Britain where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit in 2020.
The legal alcohol limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for driving is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood or 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. Depending on a person’s tolerance, that could mean any amount of alcohol can have enough of an effect to impair a person's judgement while on the roads.
With some of the busiest courts in the country, Manchester sees many cases of drivers who've been caught out by the breathalyser. These are just some of the excuses and consequences that followed.
Gary Tomlinson
Maison Green, 26, was on his way back from the gym when Gary Tomlinson, 51, who had been drinking, undertook and ploughed into him at more than twice the speed limit.
Tomlinson then 'left him for dead' and fled the scene in Collyhurst, north Manchester, going to a party where he carried on drinking before eventually being arrested in the early hours.
Previously independent and hard-working Maison, who was not expected to survive the smash, suffered 'permanent and irreversible' damage and now requires round-the-clock care in what a judge described as a 'living nightmare' for him and his family.
The crash happened at around 8pm on the evening of Thursday, October 22, 2020. Maison was driving his BMW along Rochdale Road in the right hand of two lanes.
As he approached the junction with Eggington Street, he indicated and began turning left. However, Tomlinson, who had spent two hours in the pub with a pal beforehand, drinking five Jack Daniels and Cokes, was driving behind him and decided to undertake him in the left-hand lane, which is a bus lane.
The smash was captured on several nearby CCTV cameras, the footage from which was played in court, and specialist investigators calculated prior to the collision Tomlinson was driving at around 69mph in 30mph zone.
Following the crash, Mr Green was rushed to hospital by paramedics with a severe head injury. At the scene, his score on the Glasgow Coma Scale was 3, the lowest it can be, and doctors did not expect him to survive.
He spent five months being treated in hospital before being discharged home in April last year. However, he continues to need 24-hour care and support and cannot be left unattended.
Tomlinson, of Mossack Avenue, Wythenshawe , pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. He was jailed for three years and banned from driving for five years following his release.
Melissa McLoughlin
Mum-of-three Melissa McLoughlin was banned from the roads for drink driving — after telling the police she was too ‘embarrassed’ to give a roadside breath sample. The 32-year-old was stopped by officers in Wilmslow last November when she was driving on a road with no entry signs.
After the mum, of Adelaide Road, Edgeley, was stopped, checks on her Fiat Punto revealed she did not have the right insurance or licence to be driving alone. McLoughlin was banned from driving for 18 months at Stockport Magistrates’ Court in February this year.
When officers took her to the police station, she blew a reading of 64 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath — nearly double the legal limit of 35.
Asked why she didn't provide a sample at the roadside, she said she felt 'embarrassed' doing it on the street and asked to go to the station and do it there, her defence lawyer said.
McLoughlin was fined £120 for drink driving, £80 for driving with no insurance, and was ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
Helena Monk
Businesswoman Helena Monk claimed she had been ‘fleeing a mystery man who approached her car whilst she was eating a McDonald’s Big Mac ’. Monk, 27, had stopped in a side road to eat the burger after going for dinner with a friend, only to panic when she saw the man walk towards her pink Fiat 500 car.
In March, Stockport Magistrates Court heard she drove back onto a country road to get away from him, when police spotted her swerving around the carriageway with an internal light still switched on. Tests showed she was almost double the legal drink drive limit.
Monk, who lives in Hale, admitted drink driving and was banned from the roads for 18 months. She initially applied for a "special reasons" hearing in which drink drivers cite "exceptional hardship" in an attempt to dodge a driving ban.
The incident happened on July 15 last year at 11.10pm around 10 miles from Monk's flat, when police spotted her driving through the village of Mottram St Andrew near Alderley Edge.
Along with the driving ban, Monk was fined £120 and ordered to pay £180 costs plus a £34 victim surcharge.
Elizabeth Prince
Elizabeth Prince was caught drink driving and tried to blame it on ‘separation anxiety’ from her young son. The mum-of-two claimed she only jumped behind the wheel of her Fiat 500 and drove home at 1am after being 'triggered' by the sound of her child crying, after she had left him with his grandmother.
The 29-year-old, who runs a tattoo parlour, had been drinking wine on a night out with her personal assistant, a court heard. Police stopped her shortly afterwards when an officer saw her speeding and ''weaving'' around the carriageway with her car juddering as if it was in the wrong gear.
Prince was said to be slurring her words and smelling of alcohol with tests showing she had 51 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
At Tameside Magistrates Court, Prince, from Kearsley, admitted drink driving but asked to be spared disqualification due to ''special reasons.'' JPs refused and banned her from driving for 14 months in March.
The incident occurred on January 31 last year during lockdown after Prince had asked her mother to look after her baby whilst she met her PA, who was in her ''social bubble.''
During the evening at the PA's house the pair drank wine until Prince, who also has a daughter aged nine, took a phone call from her mother, who said she was struggling to get the baby settled.
Prince told the hearing: ''When he cries, that is my trigger and I cannot be apart from him. I had been in a violent and abusive relationship and the violence took place in the presence of both of my children and I was in between it all.”
She was also fined £350 and ordered to pay £535 in costs and surcharges.
Anthony Walker
Anthony Walker told police to 'give him 24 hours' for an alcohol test after ploughing into a parked car. Walker, from east Manchester, told Tameside Magistrates' Court in October that he had lost his job over his 'bad mistake' back in August last year.
The court heard that police were called out to reports of a road traffic collision around midnight. On arrival, officers saw a red BMW with a 'large amount of damage' to the passenger side, while the front wing and wheel were missing, Meanwhile, 50 metres up the road, a silver Mercedes-Benz was seen with damage to the driver's side.
Police spoke to the members of the public, who pointed out a male driver who appeared to be heavily intoxicated. It was Walker, slurring his words, and he was detained. Walker struggled to provide a breath sample, but eventually was able to give a sample that showed a positive result for alcohol.
He was taken to a police station in Bury, where officers wanted Hughes to give another breath sample, but Walker refused. He told officers to leave him in his cell and do the test in 24 hours' time.
In a statement read in court, the owner of the other car involved in the crash said it had been parked up at the time, and he has since been unable to use it for work or driving his children around. Walker, who represented himself in court, simply said 'sorry' when he was first asked by magistrates if he wanted to explain his actions.
The 36-year-old pleaded guilty to failing to provide a breath specimen. Walker, of Tartan Street, Clayton, was disqualified from driving for 30 months and handed a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work, attend a drink driving rehabilitation course, pay a victim surcharge of £128 and costs of £85.
Laura Lyons
Mum Laura Lyons was banned from driving after she took her two young children out in her Audi while almost four times over the limit. She had returned from a boozy night out with a friend just hours before she set off to drop the two boys off with their grandmother.
Police found the 39-year-old in a daze at the wheel of her stationary A6 S Line vehicle in Urmston , having apparently suffered a seizure. The receptionist was arrested after a breathalyser revealed she had 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit being 35mg.
Manchester Magistrates Court heard that Lyons - whose husband's successful tattooing business has featured on BBC, ITV and Channel 5 - had been on a drinking binge the previous evening with a friend. She was still over the limit when she went to drop the youngsters off the next day.
Lyons pulled over when she suffered a medical episode at the wheel as she travelled along Stretford Road in Urmston. The two boys were collected by their grandmother and were not harmed in the incident.
In March, Lyons, who lives in a £450,000 property in Flixton, was banned from driving for 32 months after admitting being drunk in charge of a car. She was also ordered to complete a 12-month community order, 150 hours unpaid work and pay £180 in costs and surcharges.
Jessica Shiddell
Former BBC Breakfast executive Jessica Shiddell was banned from driving for two years after she was found to be nearly three times over the limit. Shiddell failed a breathalyser test after the Renault Captur she was driving rolled onto its side after she crashed into a parked car on August 20 last year.
41-year-old Shiddell was on her way to help an ex-boyfriend, the court heard.
Further tests showed that Shiddell, who worked as an assistant editor with BBC Breakfast when anchorman Bill Turnbull was presenting, had 215 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of her blood. The legal limit in England is 80mg.
At Manchester Magistrates Court in March, Shiddell, of Manley Road, Chorlton , admitted drink driving and was banned from driving for two years and handed a community order. She has been made redundant by the BBC, the court also heard.
Police were alerted to a collision shortly before midnight in August 2021. Emergency services attended, and found that Shiddell’s Renault Captur had collided with a parked car and rolled onto its side and roof.
After speaking with Shiddell, officers could smell alcohol on her breath and conducted a roadside breath test, which came back positive. There was significant damage caused and due to potential injuries, Shiddell was taken to hospital.
Along with her ban, Shiddell was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £170 in costs and surcharges.
Olivia Stuart-Cole and Chloe Horsfall
Receptionist Olivia Stuart-Cole, 25, and council assistant Chloe Horsfall, 23, were arrested just hours apart in November last year, in unrelated incidents after both were found to be almost twice the alcohol limit. They had both misjudged how much wine they had drank before travelling home.
Both had earlier attended parties and thought they were safe to drive home. But Stuart-Cole crashed her Mini Cooper whilst on her way to the shops ahead of returning to her family's home in Marsland Road, Sale.
Horsfall was stopped near her family's home in Bethany Lane, Newhey, after a police patrol spotted her driving her VW Polo at 2.30am with no headlights on. Tests showed Stuart-Cole had 66 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath whilst Horsfall had 61 mg. The legal limit is 35mg.
At Manchester Magistrates’ Court the women appeared for sentence at separate hearings. Stuart-Cole was banned from driving for 18 months and Horsfall was disqualified for 17 months.
Stuart-Cole, who was also fined £346 plus £119 in costs. told the JPs: ''I sometimes drink one glass of wine per night. I don’t go out very often, I only drink alcohol with my tea."
Horsfall, who was also fined £290 with £119 costs, said: ''I go out most weekends with my friends but I just go out social drinking. I do not drink throughout the week at all.''
Peter Scott
Businessman Peter Scott drank vodka whilst parked up in his Tesla before crashing - on the way to an alcoholics anonymous meeting. The 52-year-old left his Cheshire home on the afternoon of August 11, driving to a shop.
He bought a bottle of vodka, before parking up and drinking it while 'playing games', Stockport Magistrates' Court was told in December last year. Scott then set off for an alcoholics anonymous (AA) meeting, driving along South West Avenue in Bollington. He then crashed into a parked car.
A resident witnessed the Tesla being driven 'across the road and colliding with a parked car', leaving the 'defendant's vehicle stationary and at an angle'. The witness approached and knocked on the window of the car but got no response.
The man called the police, who arrived to see the car stationary and the engine still running. Scott, on whose breath an officer smelt booze, was arrested and taken to a station.
A breath test showed he had 131 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. Scott, of South West Avenue, Bollington, pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle while above the prescribed alcohol limit.
He was handed 12 weeks custody suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for 36 months.
Road safety charity, Brake, have said that in order to reduce the amount of collisions due to drunk driving, the government should impose Scotland’s sanctions of 22 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 ml of breath or 50 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood.
Commenting on the figures , Jason Wakeford, head of campaigns at road safety charity Brake, said: “Thousands of people are needlessly killed and injured at the hands of drink-drivers every year.
“A recent Brake analysis shows that, between 2012 and 2019, there were a staggering 46,860 drink-driving-related crashes, causing 1,860 deaths and 13,340 serious injuries.
“We need to change the culture around drink-driving, starting with more awareness that any amount can be deadly. While measures such as effective ongoing police enforcement and public information campaigns, including THINK!, are helping to reduce deaths and injuries, the Government should follow Scotland’s lead and reduce the legal limit. Such a move would make it clear to drivers that no amount of alcohol is safe when behind the wheel.”
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