Car crash pensioner admits drink driving

69-year-old was yards from his £1.4m home

Reporter A BOOZY pensioner crashed his car near his home on one of Tyneside’s most exclusive streets, dubbed ‘Millionaire’s Row’.

Alfred Taylor has been banned from driving after admitting he was over the limit when he crashed near his £1.4m detached Runnymede Road home.

The street was once ranked the most expensive on average to live on in Tyneside.

Some houses on the street, located on the footballer friendly Darras Hall estate, have sold for over £2m.

It was on that street that the 69-year-old crashed in July

Months later, Taylor admitted two charges at a brief Newcastle Magistrates’ Court hearing.

He’s now been banned from driving for 20 months. Wednesday’s sentencing heard Taylor was a “thoroughly decent, respectable man” who is a stalwart of his community.

The incident was dubbed a “minor bump” which usually “would inevitably have b been an exchange of d details”.

However, Taylor – who Company House public records show helped run a fleet of firms – had been Runnymede Road in Darras Hall, Ponteland drinking. The pensioner pleaded guilty to drink driving on Wednesday. He had previously admitted driving without due care or attention at an October hearing.

A third charge of failing to stop after a road accident was withdrawn by the Crown Prosecution Service after it failed to offer evidence.

The guilty pleas meant there was no need for a trial, which had been listed. He had previously been granted unconditional bail after denying all charges at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.

Besides the ban, magistrates fined Taylor £370 – reduced due to his guilty plea – and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £37 charge.

His solicitor told the court he would be able to pay it within four weeks. Albert Taylor crashed . his car while over the limit near his £1.4m home in one of Tyneside’s most exclusive streets