Drink-Driver Blew Nearly Five Times The Limit

A drink-driver, who collided with another car and later blew an “off the chart” breath-test nearly five times over the limit, received a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

Divorced mother-of-two Marion Nye, 48, a Marks & Spencer customer services employee, was so drunk her reading exceeded the official sentencing guidelines.

However, in an unusual step, a District Judge decided to sentence her on the basis of the lower roadside breath-test she gave to police officers an hour and a half earlier.

Former library assistant Nye, of Heathfield Road, Keston pleaded guilty to driving her green Fiat 500 with excess alcohol in her breath in Pickhurst Lane, West Wickham on July 17.

The police and Crown Prosecution Service charged her on the basis of the 167 microgrammes reading recorded by the Intoximeter at Bromley Police Station.

However, District Judge Sushil Kumar accepted the lower 127 roadside reading Nye gave police.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Prosecutor Jennifer Gatland told Bromley Magistrates Court the roadside test was “not evidential.”

Police hand-held roadside test kits are not subject to the same regular calibration as the Intoximeter machines, which  are regularly checked and tested for accuracy.

The sentencing council’s recommendations only go up to readings of 150 microgrammes and suggest drink-drivers in that bracket can receive up to twenty-six weeks’ imprisonment.

“The breath-reading of 167 an hour-and-a-half after you ceased driving was so high that it was not even something the sentencing council guidelines even address,” District Judge Kumar told Nye.

“It is literally off the chart and the starting point for that in normal circumstances would be four months’ imprisonment.

“I am not going to sentence you to immediate imprisonment so you will be free to go today, but there were aggravating factors.

“There was a collision, you knew that you were intoxicated, there were people in the vicinity and the police officers spoke to bystanders who saw the collision take place.

“When the police attended you drove off for a short distance and, putting it bluntly, continuing to drive in that state you could have killed someone, killed yourself or an innocent bystander.

“I will sentence you on the basis of your roadside reading. You have pleaded guilty and are of previous good character and you have not been in trouble before or been before the courts in your forty-eight years.

“At the time of the offending there were a number of factors weighing heavily on you. Your divorce, the matters you suffered within the marriage, requiring you to seek assistance from outside charities.

“Your menopause and a medical diagnosis that had returned.

“I have no doubt it is something you will regret for the rest of your life. Your father was killed in a road traffic accident so you understand how serious this was.”

Nye received twelve weeks imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and disqualified from driving for forty months.

She must also complete 80 hours community service work and obey a four-week non-electronically tagged nighttime curfew between 9pm and 6am, except on one day a week she works late.

Nye must also pay £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

It was approximately 8.00pm when police officers saw two vehicles had collided at a roundabout, with several young women standing around.

“The second vehicle was a silver Golf and and they found Ms Nye, who was alone, in the driver’s seat of her Fiat,” explained Ms Gatland.

“The witnesses told the police the Fiat had crashed into the Golf while travelling on the wrong side of the road and there was damage to Ms Nye’s front bumper.

“The police officers thought the defendant was intoxicated and they wanted to speak to her and she drove off for around thirty metres.

“One officer gave chase on foot and she came to a stop as the officer drew level with her open window and the officer removed the key from the ignition.

“The aggravating features here are the fact there was a collision and the level of alcohol is literally off the scale when it comes to sentencing.”

Nye’s lawyer Sarah O’Leary told the court: “She has care responsibilities, she has two daughters aged thirteen and sixteen years-old and shares care with her ex-husband.

“As part of the divorce he kept the house and she is in a flat. She was previously working in a school and is now with Marks & Spencer’s customer services.

“She did end up spending two days at the police station and that clearly had a large impact on her.

“She is very distressed and embarrassed. The experience has scared her and she has not drank alcohol since.

“She knows custody is a very real prospect and is scared not just for herself, but her daughters and her mother to whom she also provides support.

“Her mental health is fragile due to the emotional abuse within the marriage and she has been in contact with her doctor as well.

“Custody could see her lose her job, her flat and impact the wider family.”

District Judge Kumar told Nye he was impressed by her efforts to engage with local alcohol services since her arrest.

“You have not been drinking since this and according to the pre-sentence report you are not a risk of causing serious harm to others,” he told her.

“An immediate custodial sentence would result in a serious impact on others, your daughters, who are of relatively young ages.

“You already face and suffer your loss of good character and carry the shame the loss of your good character brings.”