Co Armagh restaurant manager was twice the drink driving limit when stopped in the morning by PSNI, Craigavon court hears
A restaurant manager, who was found to be more than twice the drink driving limit the morning after he was drinking, has been given a driving ban.
Spinks George, aged 36, from Sandringham, Portadown, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court charged with driving with excess alcohol and having a defective light.
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The court heard that on November 7 last year at 9.20am, police were on patrol in Portadown when they observed a Citroen car on Bridge Street driving towards the Carrickblacker Road. They spotted the rear off-side brake light was not illuminating.
When they stopped the driver they could smell a strong scent of intoxicating liquor coming from the defendant and his ‘eyes were glazed’.
A preliminary breath test read 94 micrograms of alcohol with the evidential reading being 89 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of breath. The legal alcohol limit for driving in Northern Ireland is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
George’s lawyer said his client had been drinking the night before and it was early in the morning when he was stopped by police.
He added his client is Indian and had been living in Northern Ireland for 12 months working in a hotel as a restaurant floor manager.
Deputy District Judge Laura Levers fined George £200 for drink driving and £50 for the defective tyre plus the £15 offender levy. He was also banned from driving for 14 months.
"That is to mark the very high reading,” said the deputy district judge, adding that the driving course may be open to the defendant which could reduce the driving ban.