Banned after crash at 3x drink-drive limit
ACCOUNTANT CAME OFF ROAD
A DRUNK accountant who came off the road and crashed into a garden was found to be more than three times the drink-drive limit.
Robert Shaw had enjoyed an evening of drinking in Wylam, Northumberland, before returning to Bardon Mill by train.
The accountant made the “stupid decision” to drive his Volkswagen Golf the short distance home, but careered of the road and into the fence of a property on nearby Willow Close.
Shaw was found to have 111mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit is 35mg – and admitted in police interview he could not remember how the crash happened.
Shaw pleaded guilty to a drink-driving charge at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court and was disqualified from driving for 26 months.
The court heard the 61-year-old regularly parks at Bardon Mill railway station and commutes into Newcastle via train.
Shaw followed the same “routine” on January 11, but after leaving work early decided to meet friends for drinks at The Boathouse pub in Wylam.
Prosecutor Omar Ahmed told the court the accountant returned to Bardon Mill by train, and decided to take the car.
He said: “On arrival at the station, he decided to take the car. He left the road and collided with the fence at Willow Close, and the vehicle came to rest in the garden.
“He spoke with the owner of the property before leaving it in situ and walked home.” No one was injured in the crash. Michael Gibson, mitigating, told the court for “reasons he can’t recall”, Shaw followed his routine of driving home from the train station. He said: “He went into work late because he was feeling unwell and finished earlier than normal.
“He had a drink in town, he decided to get off the train at Wylam and have a few drinks at the Boathouse speaking to friends. He only drinks socially.
“For reasons he can’t recall, when he gets off at Bardon Mill he makes the decision to drive the car.
“It was late and quiet, the road conditions were dry and his inhibitions were removed by alcohol.
“On a bend, a lapse of concentration meant he went into a fence and into a garden a way from the house.
“The owner saw he was in a bad way and told him to go home and come back in the morning.”
Shaw, of Hardriding Farm, Bardon Mill, was also ordered to £570 in court costs and fines, and five days of rehabilitation.
Sentencing him, chair of the bench Graham Kirkup said: “We’ve heard your remorse and awareness of what was a serious offence.”