Let off a ban, boozed up driver who needs car for WI meetings
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Mary Walker, 70, was almost twice the drink-drive limit when police found her asleep at the wheel of her VW Golf in a car park following a marital row.
The engine was running and officers tried to wake her by tapping on her driver’s window but had to open the door to rouse her in Bollington, Cheshire.
They saw a half-drunk bottle of vodka by her side.
She was taken to a police station and “co-operated fully with the police”.
Tests showed Walker had 67 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. She admitted drink-driving but urged Stockport magistrates not to ban her, saying she needed her vehicle for the WI meetings, her hobbies and taking her husband to hospital.
The court heard the arrest on November 28 followed a marital row at the £600,000 farmhouse in Sutton she shares with Leslie, 73, a retired lawyer.
Victoria Norman, prosecuting, said passers-by called police after seeing “a lady slumped in her car with the engine running”.
Walker, who kept her eyes down during the proceedings, reportedly drank half a bottle of vodka a week with her husband and occasionally had a bottle of wine.
Anthony Derbyshire, defending, said: “She accepts she consumed some alcohol following an argument with her husband at their home. She accepts she could have been drunk and accepts she fell asleep as the police arrived.
“She has never dealt with the police in this way before. She has an impeccable driving record and is of extremely good character.
“She lives six miles out of Macclesfield on her farm in Sutton with her husband.
“He is not well himself. She uses the vehicle to take him to hospital appointments.
“She also uses the vehicle to go to her weekly WI meetings, Italian lessons and keep fit sessions and she would struggle without it.”
Walker, who has since quit alcohol, told magistrates: “I am extremely ashamed of myself.
“I want to apologise for wasting your time, I really do.”
JPs put 10 points on her licence saying they hoped she had “learnt her lesson’’. She was also fined £130 and must pay £85 costs.