Boozed-up football fan is caught drink-driving after a match

A boozed-up football fan was caught drink-driving after he returned from a match on the train and decided to drive his car on the last leg of his journey home.
Drink-driving breathalyser.Drink-driving breathalyser.
Drink-driving breathalyser.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on September 6 how Nigel Rodgers, 62, of Derby Road, Swanwick, near Alfreton, had been drinking Guinness and vodka when he went to see Nottingham Forest at Wigan but after he returned on the train to the station he decided to drive his car.

Prosecuting solicitor Sarah Haslam said: “Police attended and said a parked car had been hit by the driver of another vehicle and Mr Rodgers smelled of alcohol at the scene and he failed a roadside test.

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“He accepted he had been drinking and he should not have driven.”

Rodgers told police he had parked his car at the train station and had been to a football match and consumed four or five pints of Guinness and four vodkas and he had intended to get a taxi home but drove instead.

He pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit after the incident on August 18 at Rodgers Lane, in Alfreton.

The defendant registered 79 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, according to the court, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

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Defence solicitor Stephen Oldham said: “He’s extremely sorry and he feels extremely foolish. He had been to a Nottingham Forest game at Wigan and the match had been in the afternoon and he had drinks after the game and then got a train home and police turned up about 10.50pm.

“He does not put forward any excuses. He made a miscalculation and he should have taken a taxi.”

Mr Oldham added that Rodgers is a house builder with workers dependent on him and they are working on nine different sites so he will be affected by a driving ban because he needs to travel around.

Magistrates fined Rodgers £738 and ordered him to pay a £73 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

He was also disqualified from driving for 20 months but this ban can be reduced if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.