Southport drink driver banned for 18 months

Photo: The scene of the accident on Scarisbrick New Road

Southport drink driver banned for 18 months

A Southport man who crashed his Mini Cooper into railings had been drink-driving a court has heard.

As police were called to the scene of the accident on Scarisbrick New Road at 12.40pm on May 8, officers were said to have been met with an overwhelming smell of alcohol coming from the vehicle.

Andrew Page, prosecuting at Sefton Magistrates Court on July 6, said that the driver, Adam Paul Nicholson, 46, of Norwood Avenue, admitted that he had been drinking and subsequent breath tests showed he had 190 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml in blood – the legal limit being 80mg/100ml.

“There was damage to the railings and the front of the car was damaged,” Mr Page said.

Solicitor Mark Ellis said that Nicholson had had a very difficult year having suffered problems with his business, a relationship breakdown and other family issues. He was also suffering from mental health issues and “night terrors”, he said, and had got up during the night before the accident to drink some vodka to calm his nerves.

Emphasising his co-operation with police and telling the court that Nicholson “appreciates that what he did was fundamentally wrong”, Mr Ellis said he had been running an errand when he clipped the kerb and crashed into the railings. Witnesses detained him when they thought he was trying to escape the scene, he said, but he was actually on the way to phone the police as he didn’t have his mobile phone on him.

The magistrates fined him £110 and, ordering that he pay £115 in costs and victim surcharge, they banned him from driving for 18 months but gave him the option to reduce the ban by a quarter if he takes the drink-driving awareness course.

Drunk driver totals mini #southport #BREAKINGSouthport https://t.co/KqHOZgipkJ pic.twitter.com/AsovGNzlsE

— OTS NEWS.co.uk (@onthespot_news) May 8, 2016

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