Portadown man who went out for 'a few pints' made 'foolish' decision to drive home, Craigavon court hears

Sean Hamill, aged 54, from Churchill Park, Portadown, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court charged with driving with excess alcohol.

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The court heard that on February 17 this year at 1.10am, police were on patrol in the Garvaghy Road, and spotted a Volkswagen Transporter van driving slowly along Woodside Green.

Police activated their lights and the defendant’s vehicle stopped.

“When police exited their vehicle and began to approach the van, the defendant then appeared to drive off, travelling for approximately 50 metres before stopping,” said a prosecutor, adding police smelled intoxicating liquor from the defendant.

He told police he had been ‘out for a few pints’ and was on his way home. An evidential breath sample was 89 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of breath. In Northern Ireland, the legal drink-driving limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

A defence solicitor said Hamill had ‘medically retired’ and he had gone for a few drinks. He noticed some people around his van in which he had tools and made the “foolish decision” to drive it the short distance from where it was parked to his home address.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan said: “You are very lucky Mr Hamill there is only one count before the court, given the facts I’ve heard.”

Pointing out that Hamill appears before the court with a clear record and a clean driving licence, the district judge banned him from driving for 12 months and fined him £250 plus the £15 offender levy.