Work stress made me drink-drive
Plea by migration official at overstretched airport who crashed while twice limit
AN IMMIGRATION official at an airport where passengers have faced arrival queues of up to two hours has blamed the ‘stress’ of her heavy workload after being caught drink-driving.
Raquel Micklewright, 49, crashed her sports car after drinking white wine following a tough day at work which had seen her get up at 3am.
She ploughed into one parked car in her blue Mazda MX5 convertible and then scraped another. After being confronted by police, she attempted to run off.
A breath test found she was more than twice the alcohol limit, but in court her lawyer asked for her heavy workload at Manchester Airport to be taken into account.
Micklewright walked free from court with a 20-month driving ban as well as being fined £450 and made to pay court costs of £168 after admitting drink-driving.
Bosses at the airport – Britain’s third busiest – have responded to traveller complaints about long queues at immigration by demanding more resources from the Home Office.
The incident happened on September 7 after Micklewright – pictured on social media enjoying a glass of wine – had returned from her shift as one of only two forensic document specialists employed at the airport, Stockport magistrates heard.
After having ‘a couple of glasses of wine’ at her home in Ollerton, Cheshire, she ‘foolishly’ went out again to get a takeaway.
Prosecutor Victoria Norman told the court police were called at about 10.40pm after her car collided with two parked vehicles.
‘Witnesses reported hearing a bang and then seeing the defendant drive away,’ she said. ‘ They were telling her to stop and she eventually did a bit further down the road. The police attended and they saw her walking away.
‘The officer shouted at her to stop and, at first, she attempted to run away but she did eventually stop.’
‘Couple of glasses of wine’
Micklewright, who is of previous good character, initially told police she had not been driving. A breath test showed she had 80 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.
Taryn Reay, defending, said her client had ‘meant to say that she was not driving away – rather than [that] she was not driving at all’.
Miss Reay said: ‘She had been awake since 3am that day. She works for border control at Manchester airport as a forensic document specialist and she is one of only two people to hold this role.
‘She did make her line manager aware that she was stressed because her workload was very high. When she got in from work that day, she had a couple of glasses of wine and she foolishly went out to get some food.’ Miss Reay said Micklewright was going through a divorce and had ‘bottled things up for some time’. She added: ‘She is very ashamed.’
At the suggestion of her GP she is now taking time off work sick. Sentencing guidelines tell magistrates they should only consider locking up drink- drivers who approach three-and-a-half times the limit, or above 120mcg per 100ml of breath.
According to Manchester airport, passengers have faced queues due to ‘insufficient resources’ from the Home Office, which runs immigration, accusing its Border Force of a ‘hand-to-mouth’ approach.
The Home Office has blamed the queues on planes arriving at the same time, late night arrivals, and capacity issues at terminals.
Yesterday Manchester airport said the workload of immigration staff was a matter for the Home Office. The Home Office said it did not comment on ‘internal staffing matters’. It said support networks are in place for staff experiencing emotional or practical problems.