Crash drink-driver was four times over the limit
A CONVICTED drink-driver who was four times over the legal limit crashed into an oncoming car after an argument with his wife, a court heard.
Daniel Jones had returned home to Urmston and decided to sit in his car to avoid his wife before drinking three shots of vodka with cola.
The 33-year-old then made the ‘stupid mistake’ of driving to his work truck to sleep but crashed into an oncoming car on Barton Dock Road in Eccles.
When police arrived Jones gave a reading of 149ml of alcohol in breath – more than four times over the legal limit to drive.
No-one was injured during the incident in February this year.
Jones, of Mount Drive, pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates court to drink-driving and was banned from the road for four years.
Defence solicitor Laura Baumanis told the court that Jones ‘was a man who had really lost everything’.
The court heard how Jones was drinking one litre of vodka a day and this has now been reduced to half a litre after the defendant had sought help from his doctor who had referred him for treatment.
The judge was told that Jones had since lost his wife, home and job and was now unemployed living on benefits in a home on his own, with his mother paying the mortgage.
A probation officer told the court that Jones had been diagnosed with depression and that he was on medication and receiving counselling.
Jones had previously been convicted of drink-driving but escaped a driving ban after giving a reading of 45ml, the court heard.
Sentencing, District Judge Spencer said: “Alcohol wrecked your life and you are lucky it has not wrecked any one else’s.”
Jones was also given a suspended prison sentence with a 10-week curfew and an alcohol treatment requirement and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £170 fine.