Drink driver leaning over to pick up water bottle crashed into Coalisland traffic island, court hears
A 59-year-old woman who crashed into a traffic island and pole in Coalisland after drinking two glasses of homemade wine, has lost her licence for 16 months.
Svetlana Cvetkova from Kalendra Court, Dungannon, was also fined £200 with a £15 offender's levy for driving while having consumed excess alcohol.
Dungannon Magistrates Court heard that on February 14 at 10 pm, police attended a single vehicle road traffic collision at Gortgonis Road, Coalisland.
Prosecuting counsel said there was substantial frontal damage to the vehicle which collided with a traffic island and pole.
He said the defendant could not recall what had happened and was placed in the rear of a police vehicle and officers noticed a smell of intoxicating liquor from her breath and that she was unsteady on her feet.
She was conveyed to Dungannon custody suite where she provided a breath specimen which resulted in an alcohol reading of 101 mcgs per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcgs.
Counsel said the defendant told police that she had consumed two glasses of homemade wine and had arranged with a friend for a lift home, and was driving to a nearby shop for the convenience of her friend.
The prosecutor said she thought she must have leaned over to pick up a water bottle and that was when she “hit the island”.
A defence solicitor said the defendant worked two jobs and her licence is very important as one of them involved cleaning offices.
District Judge Francis Rafferty remarked that she over three times the legal limit.