Drink-driver drained bottle for recycling
A PENSIONER caught drink-driving claimed she had to finish a bottle of wine for the recycling collection, a court was told yesterday.
Sylvia Minicking, 67, was pulled over by police who saw her driving erratically during her morning shopping trip in July, South Tyneside magistrates heard. She gave an alcohol reading of 251mg of alcohol in blood — more than treble the legal limit of 80mg.
She told police that she had some bottled wine left and the rubbish collection was due so she decided to finish it off before getting behind the wheel.
Kevin Smallcombe, defending, told the court that Minicking had started to drink to excess due to problems with recent renovation work on her house. Mr Smallcombe added: “Sometimes in this court you come across people who don’t fit the usual criteria. She is a lady of 67, with no previous convictions.
“She is a thoroughly nice lady with a nice family who got herself in a right pickle. She accepts she was over the limit. She accepts she has been drinking more than she ought to.”
He added: “There had been a bottle of wine left and the rubbish collection was due so she decided to finish it off. She knows it was wrong and foolish to do that.”
Minicking, of South Shields, told the court: “I’m sorry. I’ve not had a drink of wine since. It’s a wake-up call.”
She admitted drink-driving and was banned for 26 months and fined £383.
Drink drivers are “getting away with it” because of swingeing police budget cuts, officers have warned.
Police forces are “struggling”, officers are having to put themselves at risk and entire communities are being left unsafe at night, Mike Smith, chairman of the Police Federation in Wiltshire, said. Mr Smith said that many of his officers believed that the force had reached a tipping point, where budget cuts were allowing more crime.