Glass of wine leads to year’s driving ban

Craigavon Magistrates’ Court heard that Shirley Kelly (24) from Lake Street, had taken one glass of wine before driving her car home from her mother’s house.

At 1.40am on October 28 she was observed by a police patrol driving erratically on the short journey home along the Antrim Road where she struck a kerb at Kilmore Road. When breathalysed a reading of 62 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath was recorded.

According to Kelly’s solicitor she didn’t feel impaired to drive. She’d been out late the night before but had only had one glass of wine on the night in question.

Court was told Kelly is a community care assistant. Her solicitor said she took her car the short distance of “a couple of hundred yards” from her mother’s house to her own house to be ready for work the next morning.

District Judge Mervyn Bates said although Kelly “thought she was okay to drive” she was “reasonably well over the limit”.

The defendant was fined a total of £165 and banned from driving for 12 months.