‘Her caring nature’ to blame for driving ban

A PROFESSIONAL carer caught drink-driving said her “caring nature” was why she got behind the wheel.

Nina Nuttall had been on the phone to a friend and she became worried she was feeling suicidal.

She got into her Peugeot 207 to go and visit her and made it about four miles before a passing police car pulled her over in Windsor Way, Broughton Astley, after the officers noticed she was seatbelt.

She gave police a breathalyser reading of 86 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to drink-driving on August 11 at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Daniel Pietryka said: “It was about 7.20pm when police saw her driving without a seatbelt and that’s why the vehicle was stopped.

“The officers noticed her speech not wearing her was slurred glazed.”

Lucy Whitaker, representing Nuttall, said: “She’s absolutely devastated to be in this position.

“The night prior to the incident she stayed at her partner’s address.

“They had a disagreement that next day and they were trying to sort things out on the phone.

“She had been drinking rum and coke.”

Ms Whitaker said the person whom Nuttall was concerned about was autistic and she believed they and her eyes were were having suicidal thoughts.

She said: “The defendant is a carer and prior to that she has been a care co-ordinator and it’s in her nature to be caring.

“It was quite an impulsive thing to do.”

Ms Whitaker said her client suffered from borderline personality disorder and had a problem with alcohol.

She said Nuttall was not currently working in the care industry because she has been looking after her father in Derby, visiting four or five times a week.

She said that Nuttall was “heavily in debt” with little chance of getting work once she had been disqualified from driving.

Ms Whitaker said: “She was hoping to go back to work but would have to be on-call and that’s not going to happen.”

Nuttall, of Warner Close, Whetstone, was fined £120 and ordered to pay a £32 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

She was banned from driving for 17 months.