AN AGRICULTURAL worker who drove his transit van home from the pub on Boxing Day thought he was okay to drive after three pints.
But 38-year-old Jack Baxter was actually more than twice the drink drive limit and has now been handed a lengthy ban as a result. The defendant, from Grinsdale Bridge, near Carlisle, admitted drink driving.
Prosecutor Pam Ward said police spotted the defendant as he drove towards Grinsdale Bridge at 11.45pm on December 26. “He took the corner wide and this brought him to the attention of the police,” said Mrs Ward.
“Police stopped him and the officers noticed a strong smell of alcohol.” A breath test confirmed that Baxter had 85mcg of alcohol in every 100mls of breath. The limit for driving is 35mcg.
Steven Marsh, defending, said Baxter had worked as a agricultural contractor, driving tractors, since leaving school. Until now, he had a clean licence.
On the day of the offence, the defendant had been to the local pub and he thought his level of drinking that day – three pints of beer – would be sufficiently low to keep him under the drink drive limit.
He was driving towards his home along a single track road when the police officers saw him and activated their blue lights. “There was nowhere to pull over so he continued on to his home address, 50 yards along the road,” said the lawyer.
“There was no inappropriate driving and nobody else in the road. He pulled over as soon as he could after the police indicated for him to stop.
“He’s devastated by the prospect of losing his licence. His livelihood, as a consequence of that, must go. There it is.”
At Carlisle's Rickergate court, magistrates imposed a £120 fine, a £48 victim surcharge, and £85 costs. Noting the high alcohol reading, they gave Baxter a 20-month ban, though they also offered him the drink driver rehabilitation course.
If completed by a deadline, this will reduce his ban by 20 weeks.
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