Yellow Ford Transit van crashed into hedge, clipped telegraph pole and scraped along the side of a building in Portadown, Craigavon court hears
A yellow Ford Transit van crashed into one hedge, clipped a telegraph pole and scraped along the side of a building, a court heard in the case of a man accused of drink driving.
Ilyas Lotfi, aged 45, of Clendinning Way, Portadown, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with driving with excess alcohol.
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Lotfi’s barrister Mr David McKeown, instructed by Gerard Maguire Solicitors, said his client pleaded guilty.
Police received a report from a resident of Obre Avenue Portadown on Friday, June 6, this year of a possible ‘drunk in charge’ situation at around 6pm.
The reporting person said her husband had gone to assist the driver of a yellow Ford Transit with a flat tyre. On speaking to the driver he suspected he was drunk.
The man told police he saw the defendant in the driver’s seat “revving the engine moving back and forwards however the vehicle was not moving due to both near side tyres” having lost almost all their thread. When police arrived they noticed damage to the near side front wheel and near side wing mirror.
A Prosecutor said: “The vehicle appears to have been driven in the direction of Portadown towards the Head O’ The Road. The vehicle had collided with the hedge on the near side, clipped a telegraph pole, scraped along the side of a building breaking off the near side wing mirror.
"The vehicle then veered over to the other side of the road colliding with the hedge and coming to a stop. There were black tyre marks on the road where the vehicle struck the first hedge up to where the vehicle had come to a stop,” she told the court, adding that the defendant was sitting in the driver’s seat when police arrived and gave them the keys from his pocket.
A preliminary breath test was negative however an evidential breath test showed 100 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of breath. The legal alcohol limit for driving in NI is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Mr McKeown said it was “an utterly inexcusable offence” and his client made full admissions at the time. The barrister explained that Lotfi works for a food processing firm in the Irish Republic and would have driven there daily.
"He will not be able to do that for some considerable time,” said Mr McKeown, adding the defendant’s partner, who is pregnant, can take him to Armagh where he can get a lift to work.
"This will be difficult as he is the primary breadwinner of the family,” said the barrister, adding his client is “deeply remorseful”.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan described it as a “very high reading” and “there’s damage caused”. He also described it as “highly irresponsible behaviour” from a man who has a child and another one on the way.
"Your family, including your wife, are going to have to pay the penalty for that,” said the District Judge.
He banned Lotfi from driving for 18 months and fined him £250 plus the £15 Offender Levy. He also allowed the defendant 16 weeks to pay the fine.