Banned driver drink drove away from magistrates court

Paul Ward, 73, was drinking at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court which he had attended to answer a charge of drink driving yesterday, said Georgina Fishwick, prosecuting.

After he was disqualified from driving for 12 months and the case was finished, he drove away from the courthouse.

Police spotted him 25 miles away at the junction of the A684 and A1(M) at 4.45pm the same day and arrested him.

They gave him a breath test, which he failed and kept him in custody overnight.

York magistrates told him he had shown “contempt” for their colleagues in Harrogate.

“This is so serious it attracts a prison sentence, but we are going to suspend it and there is going to be a significant ban,” they said.

They gave him an eight-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and banned him from driving for four years.

“We are going to ask a question we wouldn’t normally ask,” they said. “How are you getting home?”

They heard because he was brought to court in custody he would get a travel warrant that would enable him to catch a train.

Defence solicitor Craig Robertson said given his age “it is going to be difficult for him to justify getting his licence back” after he finishes the four-year ban.

Ward, of Stainburn, south-west of Harrogate, pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified, drink driving and driving without insurance, all committed on Thursday, April 23.

On Thursday, at Harrogate Magistrates Court, he was fined and given a total court bill of £253. To that York magistrates added £85 prosecution costs and a £154 statutory surcharge.

Many drink drivers are given the chance to reduce their ban by taking a drink drivers’ rehabilitation test.

“Because of the contempt you showed for the decision made by the previous bench we do not believe that is justified,” York magistrates told him.

Ms Fishwick said the breath test gave a reading of 45 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Mr Robertson said Ward had not initially intended to drive home from the Harrogate court and had arranged for his daughter to collect his car.

But an emergency had prevented her from doing that so he had made the “foolish” decision to drive.

He hadn’t realised at the time the seriousness of what he was doing.