Moneymore teenage motorist who crashed BMW admitted having two pints of Tennants
A teenager whose BMW car had to be scrapped after it crashed outside Draperstown, was also handed a one-year driving disqualification at Magherafelt Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting counsel said around midnight on September 18, police received a report of a single vehicle road traffic accident at Doon Road.
Matthew Murray, aged 19, of Tirgan Road, Moneymore, was also fined £250 with a £15 offender’s levy for driving while having consumed excess alcohol in breath.
Counsel said that on arrival, police saw a BMW horizonal across the road and spoke to the defendant.
The lawyer said Murray told them his car had clipped the grass verge on the near side.
He failed a roadside test and was taken to Dungannon, where he provided an evidential specimen showing an alcohol reading of 53 mcgs per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcgs.
Counsel said the defendant admitted having two pints of Tennants.
A defence lawyer explained Murray had been drinking with friends earlier and had two pints after which he left early to go to his girlfriend’s house.
Counsel pointed out that the defendant had suffered “a significant financial burden” as he had recently purchased the car and it was now scrapped.
He added that he worked as a groundsman along with his father and would be able to get a lift to work with him.
District Judge Conor Heaney told Murray that if he had come round that corner and crashed into someone else “he would be looking straight at the gates of Maghaberry.”
He said he was very lucky not to have caused injury or worse as a result of this incident.