My retirement was so boring I hit the bottle, says ex-boss caught drink-driving
A RETIRED restaurateur who crashed her car while twice over the legal limit claimed she had started drinking heavily to ‘cope’ with no longer working.
Convent-educated Maureen Oakden, 73, climbed out of her wrecked £15,000 Volkswagen TCross SUV and walked home from the scene, a court heard.
But she was tracked down and arrested after a breath test gave a reading of 83 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit of 35mg.
Oakden, who lives at a £600,000 house at Malpas in Cheshire, subsequently claimed she had been getting drunk as she was ‘struggling’ with retirement having been an active member of her village community.
She had previously run her own bistro in the village, helped organise a local arts and literary festival and volunteered as a church parish clerk. This was in addition to working as a yoga and ‘mindfulness’ teacher.
Prior to taking on her restaurant business, Oakden had spent 31 years at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, having graduated from Liverpool University in microbiology and pathology. Oakden revealed that she has now enrolled on a university course in Egyptology to alleviate her boredom. The court heard
that the collision happened on the A41 in Tushingham, Cheshire, at 8pm on February 3.
Lisa McGuire, prosecuting, said police received a 999 call from a member of the public who saw the ‘female driver had got out of the car and just walked off’.
Ms McGuire told Chester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday: ‘The person also said the driver looked confused. Officers attended the scene and on arrival spoke to Michael Oakden, the defendant’s son.’
The court heard Mr Oakden informed police of his mother’s whereabouts and they went to see her. She was arrested and taken to a police station.
Catherine Higham, defending, said: ‘She is a lady of 73 who has managed to reach that age without any previous convictions. This is a blip. This is evidenced by her lack of previous convictions. She has been diagnosed with depression and is medicated for that.
‘She has had a referral for counselling sessions and she is awaiting them. The ball is rolling on that front.
‘She is someone who had a very active life.
‘ She retired and when she retired she found a gap in her time, something that she was not quite prepared for.
‘She is currently trying to keep active and to manage her time effectively. She has just struggled with the drop off in activity.
‘This is something that has never happened before and won’t happen again.’
Sentencing, magistrates’ chairman Charles Platt said: ‘We note that this is very much a blip on your life record.
‘However, drink-driving is drinkdriving. It is a serious matter.’
Oakden admitted drink-driving and was fined £692, ordered to pay £ 399 in costs plus a surcharge, and banned from driving for 20 months.
‘The driver looked confused’