Cleared: Air hostess who drove drunk to A&E after Covid panic

‘I cannot explain how scared I was’

AN AIR hostess who drove herself to A&E while almost three times the limit has been cleared of drink-driving.

Claudia Kinsey, 36, slipped and hit her head against a fireplace after drinking a bottle of rose wine at her remote rural home.

She claimed she believed there would not be any ambulances available because of Covid and instead of dialling 999, got behind the wheel of her 4x4 and drove eight miles to hospital.

After hearing testimony from an NHS doctor that it had been ‘appropriate’ for her to seek immediate medical treatment, magistrates cleared her of drinkdriving – a decision condemned by road safety campaigners.

Miss Kinsey had been dancing with her partner Carl Backhouse at their home in Snelson, near Knutsford, Cheshire, when she slipped and hit her head.

After her hospital treatment, a nurse became concerned that she had driven and called police, who found Miss Kinsey had 95micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35micrograms.

At Stockport Magistrates’ Court she claimed to have acted out of panic after the injury at 1am on February 21 last year.

Miss Kinsey, a flight attendant for what was described as a ‘private airline’, told the court she ‘just wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible’, adding: ‘Covid was rife and ambulances were under so much pressure, I did not want to bother them.

‘I cannot explain to you how scared I was. I thought I was going to die.’

Magistrate Pauline McCardle said her actions ‘were not unreasonable or disproportionate’.

John Scruby of the Campaign Against Drink Driving, said: ‘I just hope this verdict doesn’t open the door for more drivers to use the same defence.’