Drink-drive mum’s fears over school run after NOT being banned from roads
A MUM-OF-TWO caught drink-driving has been spared a ban despite her lawyer arguing for her to be kept off the roads – because just getting points on her licence could ‘impact’ on her taking her children to school.
Nethra Kore, 39, was found to be one-anda-half times the alcohol limit after police stopped her Daewoo Matiz car at 1.30am on a Sunday as she was driving home from a friend’s house. But Mrs Kore said she had just one drink before getting behind the wheel of her car and said she was guilty of making a ‘silly error.’
She claimed her 41-year-old husband would be unable to do the school run as he was regularly on call in his NHS job and was tasked with collecting donated organs from across the UK.
At Manchester magistrates court, Mrs Kore, who lives with her husband in Bowdon, near Altrincham, admitted driving with excess alcohol but her licence was endorsed with 10 penalty points. She was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £115 in costs.
Despite the ruling, her licence could still be revoked by the DVLA as she only passed her driving test 18 months before the offence and could be made to re-sit her test.
A licence can be cancelled if the holder receives six or more points within two years of passing their test.
The incident occurred on June 23 after traffic officers spotted her driving in the dark in Hale Barns without her headlights on.
Alan Bakker, prosecuting, told the court:
“She confirmed she had been to a friend’s house, maintained had one alcoholic drink and had been a reasonable time span between drinking and then driving.
“She felt capable to drive but the officer was not satisfied therefore asked for a roadside breath test. She was cooperative with the officer and it was positive, albeit just over the limit. Therefore she was arrested.’’
The court heard Mrs Kore blew 55 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
John Dye, defending, urged JPs to give her a short ban instead of a discretionary 10 points on her licence so she could resume driving when it expired instead of having to re-sit her driving test.
He said: “Despite the fact she finds herself in the magistrates court she is a sensible person. I just ask you to apply your common sense in this case concerning the children. They are innocent and Mrs Kore made a silly error.
“This is an unusual course of events, assuming you are a driver who would likely get 10 points on your licence and continue to drive. But Mrs Kore is a new driver – she passed in December 2017 – and 10 points means she will lose her licence and have to retake her test.
“An unfortunate aspect of that is she works but she has two young children and whilst her husband is very supportive, he works for the national organ donor scheme and is on call... They are not a family of means. “Both of them need to work and she is currently working as well and drops the children at school and goes to work.
“If she gets 10 points the DVLA will revoke her licence and she will have to apply for a provisional licence and then re-sit her test.” Mr Dye said Mrs Kore’s ‘biggest concern is the impact this is going to have on the children.’
He added: “This may be a case to apply a bit of common sense and give her a short period of disqualification instead of putting 10 points on the licence. Ninety-nine people out of 100 would be very happy and she would be able to continue to drive. Given the circumstances, maybe mark the seriousness of the offence with a 28-day ban.” But sentencing, chair of the bench, Dario Cottingham, said: “We obviously have listened to what’s been said but we have guidelines to follow.
“As for the points, we have listened to what Mr Dye has said and again on this point follow the guidelines and impose 10 points. “That doesn’t necessarily mean the DVLA will revoke – they may, they may not.
“To redo a licence can be done very quickly in Manchester and I don’t foresee that to be a problem.”
Maybe mark the seriousness of the offence with a 28-day ban
John Dye, defending