Drink driver almost crashed into a bus
AWOMAN whose driving caused several motorists to swerve to avoid her and narrowly avoided crashing into a bus was almost three times the drink drive legal limit, a court heard.
A witness told how Samantha Jayne Grove, of Glenavon Drive, Rochdale, only came to a stop after she collided with the central reservation on Bocholt Way, Rawtenstall, causing one of her
tyres to blow out. Prosecutor Catherine Allen told Blackburn Magistrates’ Court how Grove, was first encountered by a couple at around 6pm on Sunday, June 9 after she pulled out in front of them on New Line, Bacup, causing them to have to brake hard to avoid colliding with her black Vauxhall Corsa.
Miss Allen, said: “They observed the defendant’s car driving very erratically, crossing the white line and braking and speeding up without reason.
“The car continued on to Newchurch Road where it veered, almost colliding with a bus which it avoided by inches.
Several cars were seen to have swerved to avoid hitting the Corsa as it crossed the carriageway as it travelled towards Rawtenstall.
“The car eventually stopped after hitting the central reservation.”
Miss Allen added that the witness said that when she got out of the car Grove, 45, was unsteady on her feet and her husband took her keys from the ignition.
When police arrived a short time later Grove registered an alcohol reading of 104mg in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. Grove had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with excess alcohol.
Defending, Glen Wrigley, told the court that his client had no previous convictions and that her decision to drive was a ‘brief lapse in judgement’ and that she was ‘mortified’ to be in court.
He said she had drunk to excess the night before the incident and had then visited a friend that afternoon where she had consumed ‘another glass of alcohol’.
He said Grove had been using ‘alcohol as a crutch’ after recent bereavements and the breakdown of a 14 year relationship and that her ‘shame and regret’ about the conviction was a ‘watershed moment’.
The bench banned her from driving for 24 months, fined her £50 and ordered her to undergo a six month alcohol programme and work with probation services.