Portadown woman spotted driving 'all over the road’ was found to be over the limit, Craigavon court hears
A woman, who drove back to Portadown railway station to find her phone after an afternoon out in Newry, was found in a car on the side of the road by police.
Lisa Ferguson, aged 52, from Tandragee Road, Portadown appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court pleading guilty to driving with excess alcohol.
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Police were tasked after a report of a Clio being driven ‘all over the road’ at Derryhale Road, Portadown on August 2 this year at 7.30pm.
The car came to rest on the Derryhale Road junction near Chapmans, the court heard. Police smelled intoxicating liquor on the defendant who failed a preliminary breath test.
At Lurgan Police Station, shortly after 10pm that night, police obtained an evidential breath sample with the lower reading 89 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit for drivers in Northern Ireland is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Ferguson’s solicitor, Mr Joe McDonald, said his client is divorced with two teenage children and has been driving for 17 years. “There are only two points on her licence from seven years ago,” he revealed.
Mr McDonald described it as an “unfortunate story”. He said it was a Saturday and the defendant and her friend had decided to go to Newry. She got a taxi from her house to Portadown train station. They went to Newry and had a meal and some drinks. They came back on the train to Portadown and she rang a taxi which took her home.
"She had a drink and went home and was going to go to bed when she realised she had left her phone in the train station,” said Mr McDonald. “She panicked. Her phone is everything to her. It has her bank details, all her details.
"She had no phone at home to ring the station. She made the mad decision to try and drive into Portadown to try and collect her phone,” said the solicitor, adding the defendant lives around a mile outside of Portadown.
"She is a nervous sort of person and has learned her lesson,” he said.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan banned the defendant from driving for 12 months and fined her £250 plus the £15 offender levy.