Randalstown carer who drove to pick up friends in Magherafelt was found to be more than twice the legal drink driving limit
A woman who went to Magherafelt to give a friend and her boyfriend a lift, has lost her licence for 12 months for driving while having consumed excess alcohol.
Lucy O'Boyle, aged 21, from Church View, Randalstown, was also fined £100 with a £15 offender's levy.
Magherafelt Magistrates Court heard that police were on mobile patrol in the Magherafelt area on September 21 when at approximately 2.40 am, they signalled a car to stop at Aughrim Road.
Prosecuting counsel said the defendant provided a preliminary specimen which returned a fail and she was arrested and taken to Antrim police station, where she provided an evidential specimen showing an alcohol reading of 76 mcgs per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcgs.
A defence lawyer said O’Boyle is a young lady who had learned a lesson.
He explained that she had two or three drinks earlier in the night, and had received a phone call from her friend to lift her and her boyfriend who were in Magherafelt.
She mistakenly thought that not having drank for two hours the alcohol would be out of her system.
The lawyer told the court that the defendant, who works as a carer, required her licence to take her mother to appointments in Antrim Hospital.
District Judge Oonagh Mullan certified the defendant suitable for the drink driving rehabilitation course which, if completedly successfully, would reduce the driving disqualification to nine months.
The judge also allowed the defendant 26 weeks to pay the fine.