Aghalee woman 'was trying to flee a situation' when caught for drink driving, Lisburn court hears
A woman from Aghalee has been banned from the roads for a year after being caught drink driving.
Faith Harvey, 20, whose address was given as Meadowfield Court in Aghalee, appeared before Lisburn Magistrates Court charged with driving with excess alcohol in breath, and permitting use of a vehicle with no insurance.
The court heard that on May 17, 2025, police received a report from Citywatch, which operates CCTV in Lisburn city centre, that a female who appeared to be intoxicated had got into a vehicle and driven from Chapel Hill in Lisburn.
Police made enquiries and found that two people, one of whom was the defendant, had been driving the vehicle and had swapped driving.
A breath test gave an evidential reading of 44 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
A defence lawyer told the court the defendant had no criminal record and no penalty points on her driving licence.
“It was a very small distance around the corner at a time when there wasn’t many people about,” the lawyer continued.
"She feared for the safety of herself and her family. She was trying to flee a situation, drove around a corner, realised what she’d done and got out of the car.”
On the drink driving charge, District Judge Rosie Watters disqualified the defendant from driving for a period of 12 months. She also imposed a fine of £250 and an offender’s levy of £15.
On the charge of permitting no insurance, Ms Watters imposed a fine of £200.