Teenager crashed car after 10 bottles of Stella the night before
A teenager who drove and crashed the morning after drinking ten bottles of Stella lager has been banned from the roads.
Bradley Ward, 19, smashed his Nissan Micra on the roundabout where the A182 and A183 meet at Shiney Row.
A blood test on Sunday, March 7, put Ward, of Crighton, Oxclose, almost one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit, a court heard.
The same sample also proved positive for cocaine derivative benzoylecgonine – and he confessed he had taken the class A drug three days earlier.
Prosecutor Rebecca Gibson told a South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court hearing how events unfolded.
“At 10.04am the defendant was driving onto the roundabout,” she said.
“He was the sole occupant of a Nissan Micra which was insured to him and his mother.
“The defendant made admissions to police that he had consumed 10 bottles of Stella the previous evening.
“He couldn’t recall when he had gone to bed but he said he had been asleep and that he had felt fine to drive.
“He stated that his brakes felt spongy. The accident caused damage to his car and to street furniture.
“Mr Ward stayed at the scene until police arrived and it was clear to them that
he was intoxicated.
“His blood sample showed that drugs and alcohol were in
his system.”
Ward complied with all police requests to provide a sample of breath but a CAMIC police station test device was broken.
It led to him instead giving a blood sample which showed 106mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.
The reading for benzoylecgonine was at a level of 512mcg, against a legal limit of 50mcg.
He pleaded guilty to drinkdriving and drug-driving,
Ward, who is in employment and has no previous convictions, defended himself in court.
He agreed with the outline of the facts given by Mrs Gibson, and added: “I’m in the wrong and accept the consequences.”
Magistrates disqualified him from driving for 16 months for drink-driving and 12 months for drug-driving, to run concurrently. He was fined £384, with £85 costs and a £38 victim surcharge.